The drastic change Pirelli have made for the F1 Belgian Grand Prix

Pirelli have made a significant tweak to their tyre selection for this weekend’s Belgian Grand Prix.

Typically, the three tyre compounds Pirelli bring to an F1 grand prix weekend are next to each other in their range of dry F1 tyres.

For example, at the British Grand Prix last time out, the C2, C3 and C4 tyres were available to teams at Silverstone.

This isn’t the case at Spa, with Pirelli bringing the C1, C3 and C4 tyre.

By avoiding the C2 tyre, Pirelli hopes it opens up more tyre strategies and spices up the show.

In theory, if Pirelli brought the C2 instead of the C4 to Spa, teams would lean towards a one-stop strategy.

Overtaking is particularly difficult in 2025 due to more dirty air, so teams favour one-stop strategies.

“They [teams] always find a way to apply a strategy on one stop,” Pirelli motorsport manager Mario Isola said earlier this year.

“It’s not that we’re trying to push them to have a two-stop strategy because it’s better, it’s more action, more unpredictability and better races – but with the three compounds that are so close they always try to use the hard and the medium to move to a one-stop.”

It’s the first time since the 2022 Austrian Grand Prix where Pirelli have opted for a step between the tyre compounds.

In Pirelli’s preview ahead of the weekend, they said that this tyre selection should “make a two-stop strategy even more competitive in Sunday’s race, while adding a greater degree of uncertainty to tyre management over the course of the weekend”.

It’s also a sprint weekend, meaning teams will have just 60 minutes of practice to get up to speed and understand how long the tyres might last on heavy fuel.

Unsurprisingly, rain is also in the air for this weekend at Spa.

George Russell took the chequered flag in last year's race after gambling on a one-stop strategy.

He was the only driver out of the top four teams to make one less pit stop.

Russell was later disqualified after the race, handing Lewis Hamilton his final win as a Mercedes driver.