Around the end of December Pirelli rewarded its top performing Pirelli Performance Centres (PPCs) with a tour of the McLaren Technology Centre. Each of the top five performing depots in the 2013 retail standard audit won a pair of tickets.
The world’s first production one-piece carbon fibre wheel will gain its UK debut at the Autosport show next month when manufacturer CarbonRevolution gives the product centre stage on its exhibition stand.
Pirelli and Formula One teams will be allowed to hold a tyre test using 2013 cars next week after the FIA gave its consent in the form of a regulation change. At a meeting of the F1 Strategy Group and the Formula One Commission in Paris on 9 December, the FIA agreed that instead of […]
Following confirmation of a return to Formula One for the 2015 season in May, Honda has announced that it will base its European racing operation in Milton Keynes. Honda says the new facility will be the European frontline operation for its F1 participation, a joint project with McLaren to supply the power unit, including the engine and energy recovery system. It will rebuild and maintain power units developed at the Honda R&D centre in Tochigi, Japan, while its trackside support operations from this new European office.
One of the more critical drivers of Pirelli’s P Zero and Cinturato Formula One tyres has stated that he expects teams to “go into this season feeling more assured about the Pirelli tyres.” McLaren’s Jenson Button told the team’s website that he expected a more settled start to this years’ campaign, contrasting with the undeniably exciting opening stages of the 2012 season, which saw seven different Grand Prix winners. Button’s first taste of Pirelli’s 2013 rubber came during free practice at the season closing Brazilian Grand Prix, with the Italian firm bringing two extra sets of prototype tyres for teams in addition to the usual allocation.
Perhaps Pirelli’s 2012 tyres pushed Jenson’s buttons a little. Autosport.com shares that the McLaren driver, who finished this season in fifth place, believes Pirelli needs to make the F1 playing field “a bit more fair” by focusing on widening the operating window of its 2013 tyre compounds.
McLaren Electronic Systems Limited has announced that it will provide the electric engine, transmission and electronics for cars that will participate in the FIA’s exciting new Formula E race series.
McLaren will be a key partner of Spark Racing Technology, which is led by Frédéric Vasseur and is dedicated to the creation and assembly of the electric cars participating in the FIA World Championship Formula E.
Good news for owners of McLaren's MP4-12C production car – Pirelli has developed bespoke versions of the P Zero and P Zero Corsa tyres, for road and track use, respectively, for the supercar. The tyres are the result of collaboration between Pirelli researchers and McLaren engineers at Woking.
The introduction of Pirelli’s new P Zero Silver hard compound tyre, postponed last week after sodden practice sessions at Silverstone put paid to its planned debut, was finally completed today in between showers at Hockenheim’s German Grand Prix practice. Dry running in the morning allowed Formula One’s teams to gather very limited information about the experimental hard compound tyre, which was tested in free practice along with the usual allocation of 11 slick tyres for the weekend. A total of 34 sets of the new compound were used, including a longest run of 12 laps on Jean-Éric Vergne’s Toro Rosso.
With Monaco’s street circuit relying almost exclusively on mechanical grip, Pirelli believes it is the ideal territory for its P Zero Red supersoft tyre – which benefits from a rapid warm-up time and is capable of generating very high levels of traction and cornering forces. Pirelli says the tyre will be particularly important during qualifying, which, with so few opportunities to overtake in Monaco, will be more important than usual. Pirelli also says race strategy has a profound effect at Monaco because it is often easier to make up positions in the pits through an effective strategy rather than by passing on the track. Tyre wear and degradation is the lowest seen all season, making a one-stop strategy a distinct possibility for some teams.
Pirelli may possibly announce a new development driver for its Formula One tyre programme before the end of this week. According to itv.com, the tyre maker has confirmed that incumbent driver Nick Heidfeld’s signing with Sauber Motorsport and imminent return to F1 racing spells an end to his relationship with Pirelli. The Italian manufacturer is said to be releasing Heidfeld from his commitment, and according to the ITV website it hopes to appoint his replacement “in the forthcoming days.”
Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button completed a McLaren one-two at the Canadian Grand Prix, as tyre strategy took centre stage. Hamilton successfully deployed a super soft-medium-medium tyre strategy in Montreal. Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso finished third.
Bridgestone’s soft tyre took reigning world champion Jenson Button in his Vodafone McLaren Mercedes to the top of the time sheets in sweltering conditions on the first day of practice for the Turkish Grand Prix. Button set a 1:28.280 lap time in the afternoon session at the undulating Istanbul Park Circuit as the latest specification Formula One cars met the tough challenge of the notorious Turn Eight for the first time. Button’s Vodafone McLaren Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton went fastest in the morning, using the hard compound Bridgestone Potenza.
Reigning Formula One World Champion Jenson Button used Bridgestone's soft compound and intermediate tyres to win the Chinese Grand Prix in mixed weather conditions at Shanghai International Circuit on April 18. The British driver piloted his Vodafone McLaren Mercedes across the line just one and a half seconds ahead of team-mate and fellow countryman Lewis Hamilton. Button started the race using soft dry compound tyres, with two sets of intermediates seeing use later in the day. Hamilton made four stops, employing a soft-intermediate-hard-intermediate-intermediate tyre strategy.
For the past eighteen months Transense has worked closely with McLaren Electronic Systems developing, manufacturing and deploying its Torque sensor as part of a KERS (Kinetic Energy Recovery System) that was used with success during this season’s Formula One championship. As far as Transense is concerned, the most significant aspect of this project has been the technical performance validation and commercial application of both the SAW (Surface Acoustic Wave) sensor and the company’s patented Reader Electronics equipment within the demanding operating environment of an F1 car – a procedure involving the wireless measurement of torque on a shaft rotating at up to 18,000 rpm.
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