Verstappen criticizes Pirelli's tyre selection for Baku.
"That tyre didn’t perform well anywhere"
21 September 2025 - 11:59
Max Verstappen has criticized Pirelli’s selection of the C6 soft tyre for Baku, claiming the compound is "slower from the start of the lap" and "just a subpar tyre."
"The soft tyre is slower from the beginning of the lap," the four-time world champion remarked after achieving pole position on Saturday.
"It’s simply not a good tyre. I would like to speak to Pirelli at some point so they can leave that one at home."
The Red Bull driver emphasized that this isn't just a problem at Baku - the softest compound also struggled in Monaco, Imola, and Montreal - street circuits and low-wear tracks where it should perform well.
"That tyre didn’t perform well anywhere," he stated, "so it’s best if it stays at home."
Pirelli brought the softest three compounds for Baku, with the C6 returning as soft after being used at Imola, Monaco, and Montreal. The intention was to enhance strategy diversity beyond a one-stop race on a circuit that typically has low tyre degradation.
However, Verstappen remarked that the soft tyre provides "absolutely no references," which hampers setup work and makes qualifying and race simulations more difficult.
"We don’t need to make so many drastic changes to the car anymore," he noted about the improving 2025 Red Bull, "but with that tyre, it’s challenging."
He added: "It’s better to encourage a two-stop race than to introduce a tyre that offers no improvement. It’s more beneficial to require drivers to use all compounds than to have a tyre that is no quicker.
"They claim that tyre is faster, but it isn’t."
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