Silverstone debut for Pirelli slick with ‘2024’ materials

The FIA has approved Pirelli Motorsport’s request under article 10.8.3 of the Formula 1 technical regulations to introduce a new specification of slick tyre. Pirelli will first provide this new tyre for the British Grand Prix, which takes place at Silverstone from 7 to 9 July.

The new specification introduces materials planned for 2024. Pirelli says these materials are necessary now to accommodate the increase in car performance – in terms of both speed and downforce – seen over the first few races compared to pre-season simulation data supplied by the teams. The tyre maker also anticipates a further increase in performance over the rest of the season.

Extraordinary pace of development

“We’ve seen how much more performance the 2023 cars have compared to last year throughout the opening races of this season, and that is thanks to the extraordinary pace of development shown by all ten of the teams,” says Mario Isola, Pirelli’s Head of Motorsport. “In Miami, for example, the pole time was nearly two seconds faster than last year, but the same sort of progress has been seen during races as well.

“Pirelli’s simulation work has always been aimed at not only supplying a product that hits the performance targets specified by stakeholders, but also anticipating any potential problems and reacting to them quickly,” Isola continues. “The new specification contains materials that we have already developed for 2024, which will make the tyres more resistant without affecting any of the other technical parameters or their behaviour on track. To allow all the teams to test the new construction on a level playing field, Pirelli will supply two extra tyre sets per car to be used during FP1 and FP2 at the Spanish Grand Prix.”