Formula One
Pirelli has announced the compounds it will make available for the forthcoming grands prix in Japan and Russia. The exclusive tyre supplier said it would announce its final three 2014 allocations after its visit to Sochi, Russia, a brand new circuit for which Pirelli has relied on simulation data in making its compound allocation choice.
Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton claimed victory in Monza, using the popular one-stop strategy, the race method predicted as dominant prior to the race by tyre supplier Pirelli. The manufacturer’s home race – it is held half an hour’s drive from the company’s HQ in Milan – saw all of the top 10 finishers using similar tactics to Hamilton, as low wear and degradation of both compounds made the approach almost obligatory.
Formula One’s drivers were joined by some of the world’s leading names in football as signatories on the Pirelli competition tyre auctioned on the Fondazione PUPI’s Ebay channel. On the occasion of the Inter Religious Match for Peace at Rome’s Olimpico stadium yesterday, the tyre was signed by Diego Maradona, Ezequiel Lavezzi, Andrea Pirlo, Andriy […]
Following a three-week break the 2014 Formula One season will resume at the fan-favourite Spa-Francorchamps circuit. Pirelli will supply its P Zero White medium and P Zero Yellow soft tyres, a softer choice compared to last year – the exclusive tyre supplier says this allocation is designed to promote different strategies on what is, at 7km, the longest lap of the year.
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.
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.
With practice and qualification completed under significantly cooler conditions, a hotter Sunday forced Formula One’s teams to improvise when it came to tyre strategy at the Canadian grand prix. A safety car period, lasting eight laps right at the beginning of the race, also altered the strategy, with tyre degradation at the most critical fuel-heavy period minimised. Tyre supplier Pirelli says that wear on both compounds was generally low, despite track temperatures that exceeded 45 degrees centigrade and 30 degrees centigrade ambient.
The Spanish grand prix at Barcelona allowed Pirelli to showcase the solidity of its 2014 Formula One rubber, supporting the manufacturer’s assertion that its tyres would not repeat the 2013 specification’s well-publicised problems. As one of the season’s most demanding tracks, the 2013 Barcelona grand prix was won on a four-stop strategy; in 2014, eight of the top 10 finishers completed the 66 laps with two.
Addressing speculation about Pirelli’s interest in MotoGP tyre supply after Bridgestone withdraws, Paul Hembery indicates that the Italian tyre maker isn’t pushing for selection. Crash.net reports that the WSBK series remains Pirelli’s focus. “We’re heavily involved with superbikes and the promoter is the same, so we are bound to have been in discussions, but there’s no plans at the moment to do anything,” commented Hembery at the Formula One Spanish Grand Prix. “Our motorcycle team are reviewing that, but I have to say as a company we are very happy with our involvement in superbikes.”
New and returning drivers in what is described as being one of the world’s most cost-effective single seat motorsport categories are heading to Silverstone this weekend for the opening rounds of the 2014 BRDC Formula 4 Championship. As was the case during last year’s inaugural season, the control tyre for 2014 will be provided by Yokohama.
The strength of the P Zero White medium tyre following a start in which most used the soft P Zero Yellow allowed the top 15 to complete two stops only on the demanding Shanghai circuit, Pirelli said. Formula One’s exclusive tyre supplier had anticipated increased wear as a result of very long corners and high G-forces, but the 2014 tyres’ increased durability allowed Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton to use a two pit stop strategy to win, following a long second stint.
Pirelli has nominated the tyres that will be used in the grands prix of Spain, Monaco and Canada. The latter GPs will provide the first sighting of the exclusive Formula One tyre supplier’s softest compound, the P Zero Red supersoft slick.
Two grands prix into the 2014 Formula One season, Pirelli motorsport director Paul Hembery believes that tyre strategy is already becoming “a bigger factor”. Much of the pre- and early-season analysis has focused on the new powertrains and regulations introduced into F1 this season, while Pirelli has been careful to provide harder, more conservative tyres to compensate for the concentration devoted to engineering the substantially altered F1 cars. However, the occasion of the Chinese Grand Prix at Shanghai, where the P Zero White medium and P Zero Yellow soft tyres will be used, provides an early opportunity for teams to apply what they have learned so far to using the Italian manufacturer’s tyres more strategically.
British parts supplier Ricardo has announced a multi-year deal as the sole source of racing transmissions for the Japanese Super Formula series. Mark Barge, managing director, Ricardo Performance Products comments: “Ricardo has a long standing relationship within Japanese motorsport further underpinning our reputation for designing, manufacturing and assembling high performance racing transmissions, combining technology and quality to provide highly competitive and highly durable transmission solutions to our partners around the world.”
If you would like the latest news from the Chinese tyre industry in Chinese, visit our partner site TyrepressChina.com. Or click below to continue on Tyrepress.