Why are the highest performance racing (F1) tires soft, but high performance summer tires for consumer cars are hard?
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Race tires are trying to grip the road as much as possible, so they’re super grippy and wear away very fast because they’re soft. On a passenger car that would result in bad gas mileage and having to replace tires every few hundred miles. No one wants that, and no one needs that much grip for normal driving anyway. So passenger tires are harder, trying to provide *enough* grip while lasting much much longer.
Engineering is often about balancing competing factors. There is no “best” tire, only different factors required for different applications. Racers want grip at all costs, but need at least one set of new tires per race. Daily commuters don’t have $1000 a week for tires, but need enough grip not to crash. It’s all about balance.
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