AUGUST 27, 2026

Pirelli chooses middle range for F1's Sepang return

Pirelli will bring its C2, C3 and C4 tyres to the relocated Bahrain Grand Prix at Sepang in October.

Formula 1 is returning to Sepang at short notice, but Pirelli has decided against making the occasion an experiment in excessive caution.

The tyre supplier has selected its C2, C3 and C4 compounds for the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia, with the three tyres designated Hard, Medium and Soft for the October 2-4 weekend.

The choice places Sepang in the middle of Pirelli's five-compound range. It is one step harder than the C3, C4 and C5 selection that will be used at the street races in Baku and Singapore, the two events on either side of Malaysia in a demanding triple-header.

Sepang has not hosted Formula 1 since 2017 and the asphalt has not been resurfaced in the intervening years. The circuit combines long, quick corners, heavy braking and Malaysian heat, while its abrasive surface adds another variable for a generation of cars that has never raced there.

Pirelli could have responded by bringing the hardest possible tyres and hoping everyone reached Sunday evening without drama. Instead, the C2-C4 choice is intended to keep both one-stop and two-stop strategies in play by reducing the performance gap between them.

There is some historical reassurance. The compounds used for the final Malaysian Grand Prix in 2017 correspond broadly to the same C2, C3 and C4 positions in today's range, even though the naming system was different at the time.

Much else has changed. The 2026 cars and tyres are new, the teams have no recent race data and the event itself has been transplanted from Bahrain as part of Formula 1's revised calendar. Engineers will therefore arrive with extensive simulations and the usual confidence that reality will politely follow them.

The first practice session should establish how much the old surface has evolved. The weather may then make the entire dry-compound discussion academic, which would be a thoroughly Sepang way for Formula 1 to return.