It appears that Michelin has thrown its hat back into the Formula 1 ring. Michelin Motorsport has retweeted comments its director made to Motorsport.com confirming its submission of a F1 tyre supply bid ahead of the 17 June tender deadline. Pascal Couasnon shared that Michelin decided to enter the running in the hope that the championship would take a new direction in regards to tyres.
During the Monaco Grand Prix, both Pirelli and Michelin demonstrated prototype 18-inch tyres for single-seat race cars. The GP2 rubber that Pirelli showed off was developed in part to demonstrate the tyre maker’s ability to adapt to future changes in regulations, including a possible switch to a wider diameter, low profile tyre in Formula One. But although Pirelli is ready to offer the top-flight championship such as tyre, Pirelli motorsport director Paul Hembery seems less than confident that the FIA will approve an 18-inch size for F1.
Last week’s Monaco Grand Prix delivered Nico Rosberg his third victory in a row at the track, and prior to the race the Circuit de Monaco was also host to 18-inch tyre demonstrations for two F1 feeder championships. Pirelli showed off its larger diameter race-ready GP2 rubber while Renault Sport Technologies fielded a Formula Renault 3.5 car fitted with 18-inch Michelin tyres. These demonstrations are significant given both tyre makers’ views on the direction F1 tyre evolution should take, a topic of particular interest now that tenders are open for F1 tyre supply between 2017 and 2019.
Prior to the start of yesterday’s Malaysian Grand Prix, Pirelli motorsport director Paul Hembery expected teams to make three tyre change stops during the race. Four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel opted to stop only twice, and this may well have been the decisive factor in his 8.57 second victory over Lewis Hamilton. The Malaysian GP victory was the first win for Vettel and Ferrari since 2013, and this fourth victory in Malaysia – the 40th of his career – means that Vettel is now the most successful driver in the history of the Malaysian Grand Prix.
Formula One teams are said to pay Pirelli around £1.4 million for a season’s worth of tyres, minus a discount for the placement of Pirelli logos on their vehicles and other sponsorship activities. A substantial cost, but a necessary one. Yet Germany’s auto, motor und sport writes that as of 11 March, three F1 teams had yet to pay Pirelli for the season that’s about to start.
Pirelli’s motorsport director reports that changes to its Formula One tyres, particularly the soft tyre, led to increased possibilities for different race strategies in the 2014 F1 season. This year’s tyres, Paul Hembery explains, were a departure from those supplied to teams between 2011 and 2013: “After three years of making tyres that feature deliberate degradation, in accordance with our brief, this year’s revolutionary new rules with turbocharging and increased torque prompted the need for more consistent and predictable tyres, leading to the same average number of pit stops per race (2 or 3).” The average total pit stops seen in a race during the 2014 season was 44, seven less than in the previous season.
The tyres Pirelli will supply to Formula One teams in 2015 were given their first official airing at the final in-season F1 test of the year, which was held straight after the season-closing Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. Although there were no dedicated Pirelli test days and each team concentrated on its own independent programme, all teams tested the new tyres during the two-day test period, having each received ten sets of the new 2015 tyres in place of the existing 2014 allocation. Pirelli, which brought its definitive specification medium, soft and supersoft 2015 tyres to Abu Dhabi, views the new rubber as an evolution of the existing tyre rather than a new departure.
Comments from Pascal Couasnon are certain to build on speculation that Michelin will, at some stage, return to Formula One. The tyre maker’s motorsports director shared with French website toilef1.com that Michelin may soften its previous stance on sole tyre supply – while Couasnon indicated a preference for multiple tyre suppliers, he told toilef1.com that “we are ready to go it alone” should the applicable regulations be agreeable to Michelin. He also touched on the other points on Michelin’s wish list: F1 tyre dimensions that enable a level of technology transfer to road tyres, and the opportunity to develop F1 tyres that are not only stable and fast, but also long-lasting. Referring indirectly to Pirelli’s experience as Formula One tyre supplier, Couasnon commented “we need the tyre not to be an object of show, but an object of technology.”
Give an inch, and Pirelli will make its F1 tyres even larger. In the video it released to introduce the 18-inch size it later tested at Silverstone, Pirelli stated that “the new 18-inch tyre represents a starting point for future evolution. This technology could lead to even bigger sizes in years to come.” Crash.net suggests that we may not have too many years to wait for even larger F1 tyres, and says words to this effect come from no less an authority than Paul Hembery.
Pirelli has announced its compounds for the Formula One grands prix in Belgium, Italy and Singapore. At Spa, one of F1’s most spectacular and demanding circuits, Nico Rosberg, Lewis Hamilton and the increasingly distant chasing pack will use the P Zero White and Yellow medium and soft tyres suited to Belgium’s the varied track and weather conditions.
Nico Rosberg has extended his Formula One championship lead by winning his home grand prix, using a two-stop strategy with one stint on the P Zero Red supersoft followed by two stints on the P Zero Yellow soft tyre. It was the first time that Rosberg had ever finished on the podium at the German Grand Prix, but the 300th podium finish for Williams, courtesy of Valtteri Bottas – on the podium for the third consecutive time.
Larger diameter tyres made Formula One headlines following the British Grand Prix at Silverstone and subsequent testing at the circuit. And although F1 tyre supplier Pirelli’s priority with the 18-inch tyres it brought to Silverstone was aesthetics rather than performance, Pirelli sees major benefits in swapping from 13 to 18-inch tyres. In an interview conducted with our sister publication Neue Reifenzeitung during the German Grand Prix at Hockenheim, Pirelli’s motorsport director Paul Hembery explained that such a switch would deliver the Italian tyre maker numerous benefits, but these wouldn’t necessarily come through technology transfer.
Formula One heads to the German Grand Prix this weekend, a round that alternates each year between the Nürburgring and Hockenheim. This year, Hockenheim plays host, and Pirelli has selected its P Zero Yellow soft tyre and the P Zero Red supersoft for the event. Following the German Grand Prix the race teams will then head directly to Hungary, where the soft and medium tyres have been nominated.
As reported on Tuesday, Pirelli tested 18-inch Formula One concept tyres at Silverstone this week. Early yesterday, Lotus F1 Team reserve driver Charles Pic took the concept tyres out for their debut run and completed 14 laps of the Silverstone circuit.
At this coming weekend’s British Grand Prix, Pirelli will deploy its two hardest tyre compounds in order to deal with the vagaries of English weather and the high energy loads experienced on the fast Silverstone track. The P Zero orange hard and P Zero White medium will thus be used at Pirelli’s “second home race”, which takes place less than an hour away from the company’s logistics hub in Didcot.
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