Pirelli counters Ferrari bias suspicions over F1 tyre allocations

Tyrepress.com reported Pirelli’s selected tyres for the Belgium, Italy and Singapore Grands Prix earlier in the week, and reaction to the news that the tyre supplier will make its soft P Zero Yellow tyre available at all three events seemed to raise a few eyebrows in motorsport circles. Spa-Francorchamps and Monza are two of the faster circuits on the Formula One calendar, and it was suggested Ferrari’s preference for the softer tyres had influenced Pirelli’s choice to bring the Yellow tyre alongside the medium P Zero White. However Paul Hembery, Pirelli Motorsport director, has rebuffed the suggestion that the choice was made to benefit any team in particular.

“There are some compounds that suit some people better in general,” he told AS, a Spanish sports newspaper. “In other cases, it depends on the track or the weather. It’s very difficult to generalise.” He went on to explain that the degradation of the tyres – a characteristic praised in the racing’s widely perceived improvement this season – was a positive aspect of Pirelli’s contribution “only to some extent”.

He believes the company’s tyres play twice the role in the dramatic upturn in overtaking as the DRS system, but that safety is also of paramount concern in producing good F1 tyres; a factor he explained to Tyrepress.com/Tyres & Accessories in an interview following Pirelli’s successful bid for the supply contract.

Related news:

• Pirelli confirms Belgian, Italian, Singaporean F1 tyre allocations
• No favours for Ferrari: Tronchetti Provera
• F1 “Matching Pirelli’s Global Ambition”: Hembery