Racing gets through a lot of rubber, especially at the top level, so you may be wondering what happens to all of the F1 tires after the race? The process turns out to be as complex as everything else in Formula One, but ultimately aligns with both Pirelli and the wider sport’s sustainable aspirations.
At the front end, sustainability is a major focus. Which is why the 2024 Formula One Season saw Pirelli’s F1 tires achieve FSC Certification for the first time. This means that the natural rubber in the tire, one of its key “sustainable materials,” is ethically and sustainably sourced. Once they’ve been manufactured, the tires have a bit of a journey to go on, and a race to complete, before they get to their final destination.
A lot of tires go to each race
On a race weekend, each driver gets 13 sets of dry weather tires which are broken down into two hard sets, three medium sets and eight soft sets. This is reduced to 12 during weekends with a sprint race, as one set has to be returned following the shorter competition.
Two sets are returned after practice and two to three sets are returned after qualifying, with those not making it to Q3 getting to keep an extra set of softs. Wet weather tires and intermediates are also issued, with the numbers varying depending on the race.
So that’s a minimum of 26 sets per team, or 260 tires. Plus wet weather options, plus spares in case of any defects or issues spotted after mounting.
There’s a heavy level of secrecy around the whole thing
The tires all have to be accounted for, from the moment they leave the factory to the end of their lives. This is done via barcodes, which are scanned on every stage of a tire’s journey. This is done for a few reasons, one of which is the advantage an F1 team could potentially get should they get an extra set or two of race tires for unofficial testing.
Even the compound itself is a major secret, and bigger bits of rubber are often brushed and scraped from the track following a race in an attempt to stop them falling into the wrong hands.
But Pirelli can’t just store used tires in a secret location forever, something has to be done with the used rubber. It turns out the solution fits well with F1’s commitment to sustainability.
You may technically be “driving” on F1 tires
All of the tires used during race weekend are recycled. After the race, a knife is used to destroy the sidewall of each tire, which essentially renders it useless in a driving sense. The rubber is then crushed down and stuffed into a shipping container.
From there, the used tires are shipped off to Birmingham, England, where Pirelli has a facility. Once they arrive, each barcode is scanned again to register that the tires have made it to their final destination.
At the Midlands-based facility, the tires are ground up and recycled. The remains of the tire could become many things, with one example of an end use being the surfaces used in children’s playgrounds. You can also make asphalt with it, so technically many people may be driving to work on F1 tires, in a roundabout way. The tires can also be used in concrete production, so even pedestrians can experience that extra bit of grip.
It’s all part of a wider sustainability effort
Historically, F1 wasn’t a particularly green sport. Beyond the fact that the engines used to be quite large, and some of the older fuels were about as toxic as it gets–it’s always been a sport of excess. Private jets, yachts, and the kind of spending that saw teams go bust in the pursuit of glory every few years.
But things have changed, and now the sport as a whole is hoping to be “Net Zero” by the end of the decade. This includes using biofuel-powered trucks as part of its transport system for European races. The biofuel-powered trucks are making a major impact, as logistics counts for close to 50% of the sport’s total carbon footprint. The plan seems to be working too, a report released in mid 2024 showed a 13% reduction in the sport’s total carbon footprint between 2018 and 2022. Amongst other environmentally focused rule changes, the sport will require 100% sustainable fuels to be used in the vehicles that compete in Formula One from 2026.
Pirelli’s efforts aren’t all about reducing carbon emissions, and the net goes a little wider. The rubber and a good amount of other materials used in the tires are sustainably sourced at the start, and it’s all responsibly recycled at the end. Like F1 on the whole, it’s also a bit of a curve. Pirelli isn’t done, and is aiming to use more recycled and renewable materials in its tires, without reducing quality, as time goes on.
