What tyres will the teams and drivers have for the 2026 Chinese Grand Prix?

China plays host to the second round of the 2026 season this weekend, with the Shanghai International Circuit also the venue for the first Sprint event of the year.

As such, the teams will only have one practice session to get to grips with their new cars though, with Sprint Qualifying taking place on Friday afternoon.

And they have different tyre compounds this weekend too, with Pirelli nominating the C2, C3 and C4 rubber - one stage harder than the Italian manufacturer brought to Melbourne. Those are the same compounds that were in use at the Shanghai International Circuit last year.

The fact this is a Sprint weekend means the teams will have to manage their tyre allocations differently, with only 12 sets available for the whole weekend rather than the usual 13.

Under Sprint regulations, drivers will get two sets of the hard, four sets of the medium and six sets of soft, along with six sets of green intermediates and three sets of blue full wets.

Pirelli have noted that the combination of high and low-speed corners could be tricky for drivers to perfect: "Some corners are very fast, such as the S section formed by Turns 7 and 8, while others are much slower, like the combinations of turns 1 and 3, 6, and 14. These sequences, combined with the high‑speed sections, make the track demanding on tyres and pose a challenge for energy recovery with the new power units."

"It will be interesting to see whether drivers can avoid the frequent corner‑entry lock‑ups seen at the Sakhir circuit during pre‑season testing, where some heavy braking zones were similar to those in China.

"The Shanghai track was completely resurfaced in August 2024. The new asphalt significantly increased grip, consequently reducing lap times. However, the smoother surface generated graining in 2025, particularly on the front axle, which became a limiting factor that year, especially during the Sprint. The phenomenon, however, diminished in intensity on Sunday thanks to track evolution.

"One year later, the circuit should be slightly more aged and, although still smoother than most others, grip levels may be lower, as should the likelihood of experiencing graining on the tyre sets. This hypothesis can already be assessed in the opening track sessions.

"The lap‑time simulations received by the teams are close to last year’s performance figures. Despite having completely different cars, the SM [Straight Mode] zones evidently compensate for the drop in speed of the new generation of cars compared to the previous one."

For more information about Pirelli’s F1 tyres, visit pirelli.com.