On dry tyres, red means soft, yellow means medium and white means hard. Green marks the intermediate wet-weather tyre and blue marks the full wet. These colours identify a tyre’s category for a given race weekend, not a fixed compound, so the same tyre can carry a different colour at a different event. For the 2026 season, Pirelli supplies five dry compounds, numbered C1 (hardest) to C5 (softest).
The colour code at a glance
| Sidewall colour | F1 category | What it indicates |
|---|---|---|
| Red | Soft slick | The softest of the three dry compounds nominated for that event. |
| Yellow | Medium slick | The middle of the three dry compounds nominated for that event. |
| White | Hard slick | The hardest of the three dry compounds nominated for that event. |
| Green | Intermediate | Wet-weather tyre for a wet track without standing water, including a drying surface. |
| Blue | Full wet | Wet-weather tyre for heavier rain, with a profile designed to resist aquaplaning and disperse water. |
Why the dry colours change from race to race
Pirelli names its 2026 dry compounds C1 to C5, ordered from hardest to softest. For each race, three of those compounds are nominated and labelled hard, medium and soft, and those labels are what the white, yellow and red colours show. The compound number does not carry a colour of its own.
Formula 1 reported a concrete 2026 example at the Spanish Grand Prix: C2 was the hard, C3 the medium and C4 the soft. In that event, C2 carried white, C3 yellow and C4 red. At a different event with a different nomination, the same C2 could be the medium or the soft, and would be marked accordingly.
Pirelli’s 2026 tyre announcement sets out the scheme directly: “White, yellow, and red denote Hard, Medium, and Soft respectively, while green and blue are still the colours for the Intermediate and Full wet.”
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Wet-weather colours: green and blue
Wet tyres are not tied to the dry compound range, so their colours do not change with the weekend’s nominations.
Green: intermediate
Pirelli describes the intermediate as its more versatile rain tyre. It is intended for wet tracks without standing water, and it can also be used as the track begins to dry.
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Blue: full wet
The full wet is intended for heavy rain. Its profile is designed to disperse water and resist aquaplaning. Pirelli also warns that visibility can become a serious problem in heavy rain, and that this can lead to race stoppages.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Fan merchandise in the same colours
Formula 1’s official store sells tyre keyrings and magnets in the same five colours: soft/red, medium/yellow, hard/white, intermediate/green and wet/blue. They are a simple way to keep the colour code in mind, but they carry no compound information beyond the category labels above.
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Colour labels can change from one weekend to the next, so for the exact compounds in use at a particular race, check the official Formula 1 or Pirelli race-weekend tyre information for that event.
The colour system is consistent across the dry and wet categories: learn the five labels, and the compound behind each colour is the only thing that changes.
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