What do the soft, medium and hard tyres mean in F1?
The dry tyre range from soft (fastest, wears quickest) to hard (most durable, less grip), chosen to suit the track.
The dry slick tyres come in a range of compounds, and at each race weekend three are nominated and colour-coded red for soft, yellow for medium and white for hard. Softer compounds give more grip and faster laps but wear out sooner; harder ones last longer but are slower to warm up and offer less peak grip. Teams juggle these trade-offs across a race, and the rules require using at least two different dry compounds during a dry Grand Prix. The choice of which to run, and when, sits at the heart of race strategy.
See also: F1 tyre compounds explained.
Related tyres terms
- Slick tyres — Smooth, treadless dry-weather tyres that maximise grip by putting as much rubber on the road as possible.
- Intermediate tyres — Grooved green-marked tyres for a damp or drying track — the crossover between slicks and full wets.
- Wet tyres — Deep-grooved blue-marked tyres for heavy rain, designed to clear standing water and resist aquaplaning.
- The C-range (C1–C5) — The tyre supplier's full library of dry compounds, from the hardest (C1) to the softest (C5), from which three are picked per race.
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Definition written in plain language from the current F1 sporting rules and common usage, current as of 14 August 2026. Unofficial; not affiliated with Formula 1.