Pirelli announces Bahrain, Spain, Monaco GP compound selections

Pirelli has announced its tyre nominations for the next three rounds (four to six) of this year’s FIA Formula One World Championship in Bahrain, Spain and Monaco. The supplier will take the P Zero Yellow soft tyre to all three events. Accompanying it in Bahrain will be the P Zero White medium; in Spain the manufacturer breaks with its convention of keeping compounds one step apart, supplying the P Zero Silver hard tyre; in Monaco, Pirelli will use its supersoft P Zero Red compound for the first time this season, helping to rubberise the road surfaces used at one of motorsport’s most iconic events, in addition to providing greater grip on the most twisty circuit of the year.

Pirelli explains that its tyre choice for Bahrain takes into account the hot temperatures and medium grip characteristics of the Middle Eastern circuit. The hard tyre will be seen in Spain to cope with the high lateral loads that the tyres have to deal with at the Circuit de Catalunya, coupled with the soft tyre in order to enhance the opportunities for different strategies. Monte Carlo is the slowest track on the calendar, and the supersoft’s first appearance of 2012 will help to maximise the grip available over the course of this short lap.
 
The rules stipulate that under normal circumstances each team will receive six sets of the harder compound and five sets of the softer compound for the race weekend. Pirelli will also bring its Cinturato Green intermediate tyre for damp track conditions (four sets per driver) as well as the Cinturato Blue rain tyre (three sets per driver) to each race.
 
Pirelli’s motorsport director Paul Hembery commented: “Our nominations this year are designed to push the envelope of performance, as can be seen from our latest choices. Only the supersoft tyre is the same compound as last year: the other compounds are softer and therefore faster, designed to encourage closer racing as well as a wider variety of strategies.”

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