US GP Tyre Allocation 2026: Pirelli Picks C2, C3 and C4

The US GP tyre allocation for 2026 is C2 hard, C3 medium and C4 soft. Pirelli's selection for the United States Grand Prix at the Circuit of the Americas (Round 18, race on Sunday 25 October 2026) gives every driver two sets of hard, three of medium and eight of soft, plus an extra soft set for anyone who reaches Q3, according to Formula1.com on 21 October 2026. That is thirteen dry sets before the bonus one. Eight softs is enough to open a small shop.

Why the 2026 US GP tyre allocation matters

Compare it with last year. Formula1.com notes that the 2025 sprint weekend in Austin used C1, C3 and C4. The 2026 hard is therefore the C2, one step softer than the C1 teams had twelve months ago. The weekend format has changed too, since this is a conventional Friday-to-Sunday programme with three practice sessions, so treat the comparison as context rather than a like-for-like.

The softer hard is the quiet headline. A tyre that is easier to get working is also, usually, a tyre that gives up sooner when the track turns to a skillet. That is our read, and Friday's long runs will confirm or embarrass it.

What Pirelli expects at COTA

Pirelli's guidance, as relayed by Formula1.com, is that wear rather than graining will be the story. The front tyres are worked hardest through the first sector, and the rears suffer thermal degradation in the third. A stretch between Turns 9 and 11 was resurfaced earlier in 2026, but the rest of the surface is ageing and adds to the wear.

The C2 hard could favour long stints and a one-stop race, per the same report, but high Texan temperatures may increase degradation and open up other strategies. In dry conditions drivers must use at least two different slick compounds, so a one-stop means one soft or medium stint and one hard stint, and nobody gets to sit on a single set from lights to flag.

What to watch in Austin practice

Practice starts on Friday 23 October 2026 at 17:30 UTC. Three things are worth checking before anyone writes a strategy thread:

• How many laps the hard survives on a long run before the lap times fall away.
• Whether the medium holds up as an alternative starting tyre, or fades quickly.
• How far the third-sector rear wear shows up in the teams' longer runs.

Qualifying follows on Saturday 24 October at 21:00 UTC and the race on Sunday 25 October at 20:00 UTC. If you want to see how far hard stints have run in other 2026 races, the GridRaces telemetry page has the stint data, and the live timing view will show the compounds as the sessions unfold. Our wider analysis coverage is on the way with the 2026 hard-stint numbers.

Our early call: the one-stop is the starting plan, the heat is the plot twist, and the team that reads the third sector first writes the ending. Make your own call in GridRaces predictions before qualifying locks the grid.