Pirelli to test harder tyre at Silverstone
30 May, 2012
May 30 (GMM) Pirelli is preparing to test a harder-compound tyre, as criticism of the 2012 Formula One season ‘lottery’ flares up.
The dilemma for F1′s tyre supplier is that it was specifically asked to spice up the show with heavily degrading tyres, and the six different winners so far this season proves the Italian marque has more than met the brief.
On the other hand, the purists are moaning that the unpredictability could now drive away the real fans.
“We think it’s absolutely great when people are talking about us,” motor sport director Paul Hembery is quoted by Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport.
“But we don’t want to be the focus of the conversation, just a part of it,” said the Briton.
Hembery said he is confident that, as the season presses on, the engineers and drivers will become better at understanding the way the tyres interact with the cars.
But Pirelli is nonetheless planning to test a harder compound tyre, featuring less degradation, during Friday practice for next month’s British Grand Prix.
Still, Hembery warns that more durability will attack the spectacle.
Referring to the processional Monaco race, he said: “You can see what happens when the tyres last forever.”
Subbed by AJN.
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It seems that the problem is that the tyres are far too sensitive to setup. That they’ve got a very narrow area where they perform, and also when they do the life goes out of them very quickly.
It’s turned F1 in to a two hour endurance race. Who can make the tyres last the longest, not who can go the quickest. It is a type of racing, but more LeMans than F1.
We want to see close racing between teams and drivers. Racing at the absolute edge of technology.