Why are the highest performance racing (F1) tires soft, but high performance summer tires for consumer cars are hard?
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Consumer tires are a very different balance relative to race tires. A very soft tire will only last a few thousand miles and few people would buy them since they’d have to change tires as often as they changed oils. And it would be a rather big safety issues – while not changing oils at the recommended intervals will damage the engine, a worn out tire can lead to accidents involving lives. So it is not in the interest of tire companies in general to offer expensive, short lived tires even though they are more expensive because it will likely lead to expensive liability lawsuits. So it is a compromise – make the tires less grippy but harder and therefore more durable.
The highest performing road tires (consumer) are also softer than the long lasting ones. Nonetheless, you cannot compare across very different use cases. Racing tires and their conditions are monitored and maintained by experts and driven by experts – not something that an everyday driver would be committed to do.
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