Pirelli to introduce revised tyres from Canada onwards
Formula One racing’s official tyre suppliers Pirelli have announced that they will be providing tyres with a revised construction from the Canadian Grand Prix onwards.
The Italian company said after last weekend’s race in Spain - in which several drivers made four tyre stops - that they would make changes ahead of the British Grand Prix, but they have now decided to introduce revised rubber a race earlier, in Montreal, to bring the number of stops into line with their stated aim of two to three stops per car, per race.
According to Pirelli’s motorsport director Paul Hembery, the new tyre range will combine elements from the 2012 and 2013 tyres to achieve both durability and performance.
“Our aim is to provide the teams with a new range which mixes the stability of the 2012 tyres and the performance of the current ones,” he said.
“As a company, we have always moved quickly to make improvements where we see them to be necessary. After evaluating data from the first few races this year, we’ve decided to introduce a further evolution as it became clear at the Spanish Grand Prix that the number of pit stops was too high.
“The Spanish Grand Prix was won with four pit stops, which has only happened once before in our history. These changes will also mean that the tyres are not worked quite as hard, reducing the number of pit stops.”
Hembery also confirmed that the changes would stop the recent spate of tyre delaminations caused by track debris: “It’s important to point out that these delaminations, which occur when the tread comes off, do not compromise the safety of the tyres as the core structure of the tyre is not affected in any way, helping drivers to complete the lap and to change the damaged tyres safely,” he explained.
“These delaminations were due to damage from debris that overheated the tread. We’d like to thank all the teams for their continued and extremely valued support as we worked with them to identify the correct compromise between the pure speed that makes us the world leader in the Ultra High Performance sector and a global spectacle that is easy for Formula One fans to follow.”
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The move comes just after Bernie Ecclestone made some harsh statements following a day after Red-Bull's owner Dietrich MateSchitzh told Mr. Ecclestone that "This has nothing to do with racing any more , it’s about tyre management".
A day before the move to change the Tyres Pirelli motorsport director Paul Hembery said that while Pirelli do not want to produce four-stop races, it did not want to be seen as favouring Red Bull either, stating:
“You can imagine, though, if we make a change, that it might be seen that we’re making tyres for Red Bull in particular,”.
He however isn't sure that it won't work in RBR's favour.
