Pirelli Extends Formula 1 Contract to 2028 After Passing 500 Grand Prix Milestone

Pirelli has secured its place in Formula 1 through to the end of the 2028 season after the FIA exercised a pre-agreed one-year option to extend the current contract, confirming the Pirelli Formula 1 contract extension 2028 by mutual agreement with Formula 1 and Pirelli. The Italian company passed the milestone of 500 Grands Prix in 2025. It will now add more. Exclusive supply across Formula 1, Formula 2, Formula 3 and F1 Academy continues uninterrupted, the extension landing mid-season as the sport beds in its most significant regulatory overhaul in decades.

Key Points: Pirelli Extends Formula 1 Contract to 2028

• The FIA has exercised a pre-agreed one-year option to extend Pirelli’s exclusive tyre supply contract through to the end of the 2028 season
• Extension covers Formula 1, Formula 2, Formula 3 and F1 Academy. Pirelli remains the sole tyre supplier across all four series
• The option clause was written into the original 2023 agreement, which established Pirelli’s supply for the 2025 to 2027 period
• Pirelli first competed in Formula 1 in 1950 and has been the exclusive tyre supplier since 2011
• The company passed 500 Grands Prix as exclusive supplier in 2025, with the 2028 extension adding further to that total
• Extension confirmed during the 2026 season, the first year of F1’s new technical regulations, which Pirelli developed the current compound range to support

500 Grands Prix and Counting

The 500 Grand Prix milestone landed in 2025. Most partnerships in sport do not reach that number. Most suppliers in any category do not last long enough at the top level to accumulate more than seven decades of involvement in a single championship. Pirelli has. And now, with this extension, the number keeps climbing.

The company was present at the very first Formula 1 World Championship race in 1950. It returned as exclusive supplier in 2011 and has not left since. Fifteen seasons of sole supply, a new technical regulation cycle in 2026, and now a contract that runs to 2028. The extension is one year. The history behind it is considerably longer.

How the Extension Works

This is not a new deal. The option to extend by one year was built into the contract Pirelli, the FIA and Formula 1 signed in 2023, which covered the 2025 to 2027 period. The FIA has now exercised that option, by mutual agreement with both Formula 1 and Pirelli, adding 2028 to the existing arrangement.

The supply framework that underpins the current 2026 regulations continues without interruption. The compound development programme, the logistical structure, the testing relationships with teams: all of it runs on. There is no reset period, no tender process for the near term, no uncertainty for the teams building cars under the new regulations.

The timing matters. The 2026 technical regulations are the biggest overhaul the sport has seen in years. Pirelli developed the current compound range specifically to support them, removing the C6 and restructuring the compound steps across the range. Confirming supply continuity through 2028 gives that development work a longer runway to produce results on track.

What the Partners Said

FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem pointed to stability and collaboration as the headline. Pirelli has delivered a consistently high standard of performance and safety across its time in the championship, and the extension reflects the strength of the working relationship between all three parties.

Formula 1 CEO Stefano Domenicali highlighted the technical dimension, pointing to Pirelli’s role in supporting the regulatory evolution and describing the extension as continuity with one of the sport’s most capable long-term partners.

Beyond Formula 1

Pirelli’s supply continues across Formula 2, Formula 3 and F1 Academy through 2028. That breadth matters. Supply across all four series means Pirelli’s compound development work runs from junior categories through to the pinnacle, with data and learning flowing in both directions.

Tronchetti Provera specifically referenced F1 Academy in his statement, citing the extension as an opportunity to continue supporting the development of new talent in motorsport. For a programme that has grown its profile rapidly since launch, continued technical support from the championship’s sole tyre supplier reinforces the infrastructure around it.

Formula 1 is Pirelli’s primary research and development environment. The performance demands of 2026-specification cars in extreme conditions accelerate tyre development in ways that feed directly into road tyre technology. That pipeline continues to 2028 and beyond it.

Coffee Corner Take

500 Grands Prix is not a number many partnerships in any sport reach. Pirelli crossed it in 2025 and now has a contract that keeps the tally climbing. That is the headline, and it is the right one.

The mechanics of this extension are straightforward. The option was already written into the 2023 agreement. Nobody is surprised. But the timing has a logic to it. The 2026 regulations are the most significant reset the sport has seen in years, and Pirelli built the current compound range from the ground up to support them. Locking supply continuity through 2028 means that investment has a proper runway. Teams designing cars for 2027 and 2028 know exactly what tyre infrastructure they are building around. That removes a variable that nobody needed in the middle of a major regulatory cycle.

The question that eventually comes is what happens at the end of 2028. No answer yet. For now, the sport has what it needs: stability, continuity, and a tyre supplier that has been part of Formula 1 since the championship’s first race in 1950.