Pirelli previews Monte Carlo track
Pirelli is at the Monaco Grand Prix this weekend with its new supersoft tyre, the PZero Red, which the company says are designed to be ideally suited to the tight and twisty streets of the principality. The iconic Monaco street circuit is 3,340 metres long, and the PZero Red is designed to offer increased grip over the slippery asphalt, which is open to normal road traffic in the evenings. The evolution of the track is therefore difficult to predict, and with frequent heavy use of brakes, such as in the first corner, Sainte Devote, where cars will lose 160kph in 100 metres. The continuous heavy use of the brakes in Monaco generates extremely high temperatures which are also felt in the tyres, increasing the stress caused by heat on the tyre as a whole.
There is a big compression as the cars exit Casino Square that can destabilise the car under braking. The Loew’s hairpin is the slowest corner of the season, taken at just 47kph. Due to the low speed there is no aerodynamic downforce, so the full steering lock means that the front-right tyre is doing all the work when it comes to the change of direction.
Tabac, following the famous tunnel, is one of the hardest parts of the circuit with a tight line and no escape road. The cars reach around 160kph here, developing a lateral load of 3.31G. It’s another tight entry to the first corner at the Swimming Pool complex. The cars hit the kerbs at more than 200kph, generating a lateral force of 3.65G.
The last part of the lap is vital for a clean run, where the drivers have to thread their cars carefully between guardrails apply the brakes while cornering at the same time. It’s back on the gas at Anthony Noghes and then up through second and third gears to unleash the full power of the engine on the start-finish straight for another lap.
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