History of the Pirelli F1 tyre: The 18-inch tyres were designed from a blank sheet of paper: from the profile to the structure, including the compounds. The design process required more than 10,000 hours of indoor testing, more than 5,000 hours on a virtual simulator and more than 70 prototypes developed virtually, ultimately creating 30 different specifications that were tested by almost all the teams over more than 20,000 kilometres. The role of the drivers has been crucial, each of them contributing to the development at different times and helping Pirelli arrive at the final specifications thanks to their feedback. This year, the number of compounds that Pirelli can nominate throughout the championship has increased to six: this allows for tyres to be even better adapted to the specific characteristics of each circuit. A philosophy that also applies to Pirelli's road products, which benefit from technology directly transferred from Formula 1®.