F1 News
To the moon and back: Pirelli's startling figures in 2024
- Ludo van Denderen
The longest-ever season in Formula 1 is now over, with Max Verstappen the drivers' champion for the fourth time in a row and McLaren taking the title among the constructors for the first time in two and a half decades. The year was memorable for many more reasons, as F1 tyre supplier Pirelli's statistics reveal.
Two more Grands Prix were completed this year than in 2023, so many more kilometres have been covered in a single season. Namely, 27,016.375 kilometres (obviously including practice sessions and sprints) - to the moon and back even. Pirelli has calculated that 93.59 per cent of that was driven on slicks, almost six per cent on intermediates and barely half a per cent on full wets.
The C3 most often used in 2024:
The tyre manufacturer reports that the C3 was used most often because this tyre was now present at every race. However, it was used less often, as the percentage dropped from 36.57 per cent to 32.06 per cent compared to last year. Once again, the C4 was the second most used compound (23.47 per cent), while the C5 finished in third place with 16.84 per cent.
Incidentally, the above figures do not include the use of prototype tyres. Those were used for another 2,306.944 kilometres, less than the previous year because, in 2024, they were only used for the in-competition test in Mexico City, while last year, they were used during Friday free practice over three weekends - Barcelona, Suzuka and Mexico City.
Gasly did the longest stint on the same set:
Pierre Gasly did the longest stint on the same set of tyres in 2024. The Frenchman drove 300.150 kilometres (50 laps) on a set of C3's in Azerbaijan. Charles Leclerc drove the longest distance on a set of C2's, with 43 laps at the Jeddah circuit, equivalent to 265.525 kilometres. George Russell covered the most kilometres on a set of C4's (256,949 km, 77 laps) in Monaco.
Pirelli supplied the teams with a total of 8,016 sets of tyres. Of these, 2,718 were never used. Incidentally, due to a changed use of extreme wets and intermediates, fewer sets of tyres were produced than a year ago. There were about 3,500 fewer.
Of all the races in 2024, the Japanese Grand Prix saw the most tyre changes: there were 46 pit stops at Suzuka. On the other hand, there were only 19 pit stops in Jeddah. In Monaco, there were only seven pit stops, but that was due to a red flag - after which many drivers were able to do their mandatory stop during the neutralisation.
This article was written in collaboration with Toby Nixon.
Want more Formula 1? Then follow GPblog on our various social media channels!