What a Softer Compound Actually Trades
Softer compounds generate more grip and therefore more lap time, and they lose that advantage faster. The mechanism is the same in both directions: a softer rubber deforms more readily into the texture of the track surface, which increases contact and grip, and that same deformation puts more energy into the tyre and removes more material. Grip and durability are not independent qualities that a manufacturer could simply improve together. They are two consequences of the same property.
A weekend therefore presents a menu of compounds, each a different point on that curve, and regulations requiring a driver to use more than one specification during a dry race turn the choice into a sequencing problem rather than a single selection. The question is not which tyre is fastest but which order produces the lowest total time, given where the traffic is, when the car is heaviest, and how the surface evolves as rubber gets laid down.
