The new Giulia Quadrifoglio is, as evo magazine puts it, the car that “could potentially re-launch” Alfa Romeo. The saloon can sprint from 62mph in just 3.9 seconds and its 2.9-litre twin-turbo V6 sends a healthy 503bhp to the rear wheels. This power comes in contact with the road through Pirelli tyres – the P Zero Corsa has been selected as the Giulia Quadrifoglio’s original equipment fitment.
Pirelli will supply its P Zero Red supersoft, Yellow soft and White medium compounds to Formula One’s teams at the recently resurfaced Hungaroring. The tyre manufacturer says that the circuit “could not be any more different” following the previous race at Silverstone; the tight and twisty Hungaroring has been described as being like an oversized go-kart track, while weather conditions can range from extremely hot (a common occurrence) to rain (which was the case two years ago, as well as 2011).
The British grand prix takes place at Silverstone the weekend after Pirelli’s visit to Austria, but the manufacturer’s tyre selection is an indicator of the different challenges posed by famous circuit. The Formula One tyre supplier will bring its P Zero Orange hard, White medium, and Yellow soft tyres to the UK – its hardest possible tyre selection – the week after supplying its softest selection to teams in Austria. Accordingly, Pirelli states tha the two events “could not be more different.”
The British GT Championship remains open to Europe in a way seemingly at odds with just over half the UK, as it ventures to Spa-Francorchamps for the fifth event of the season. Though most of the British drivers won’t be as familiar with the Belgian circuit as the season’s UK tracks, Pirelli – in its first season exclusively supplying the championship – will supply a tyre, its P Zero DHC, that has completed many thousands of laps there at the Spa 24 Hours over recent seasons. Pirelli and its engineers will be at Spa on the Tuesday prior to the British GT races for the test day of the 2016 24 Hours, which takes place at the end of the month.
Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton was victorious in Austria, winning the Austrian Grand Prix from pole position using a two-stop strategy. Teammate Nico Rosberg collided with Hamilton as the Briton passed him on the final lap of an action-packed grand prix, having used the timing of his pit stop tyre strategy to boost his position, “undercutting” a number of drivers including his team mate (who started from pole) to lead the race. Following contact with Hamilton, Rosberg’s car sustained front wing damage, leading to his fourth place finish. More worryingly for tyre supplier Pirelli was the blowout that ended Sebastian Vettel’s grand prix, the causes of which the manufacturer said it was investigating with the constructor, Ferrari.
Pirelli will bring its three softest P Zero F1 compounds – soft, supersoft and ultrasoft – to the Red Bull Ring, Spielberg, describing the track as “probably the closest that Formula One comes to a rally stage.” Big changes of elevation and a sequence of fast and twisty corners coalesce with unpredictable weather and the grand prix’s roots in the 1969 Osterreichring, which gives the track quite an old-school character.
Nico Rosberg piloted his Mercedes to a convincing win at the first grand prix in Azerbaijan. The championship leader started from pole and stopped just once, passing from supersoft to soft tyres, without ever losing the lead. While some cars were forced to stop twice due to the higher than expected temperatures, Pirelli said that tyre degradation was lower than expected. The top six finishers all started on the P Zero Red supersoft, stopping once to change to the P Zero Yellow soft tyre between laps 8 and 21. These soft tyre stints therefore lasted up to 43 laps, the number achieved by Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen.
For the seventh round of the 2016 Formula One World Championship, Pirelli will supply its new P Zero Purple ultrasoft for the second time, following its debut in Monaco. As a low-grip circuit with high track evolution, Canada’s semi-permanent Circuit Gilles Villeneuve provides a good opportunity to test out the Monaco tyre allocation (the three softest Pirelli P Zero F1 tyres) in a different context; the tyres will be used at higher speeds and with higher loads, generating higher temperatures and putting increased energy through the tyres. The circuit is also known for its high kerbs, making it a test of the tyres’ construction as well is their tread compounds.
Pirelli will bring its P Zero Yellow soft, Red supersoft, and Purple ultrasoft Formula One tyres to the fifteenth round of the 2016 Formula One season in Singapore. Pirelli mandates one set of the Yellow soft and Red supersoft tyres must be used during the race, while one set of the Purple ultrasoft tyres are assigned to the third qualifying round.
Pirelli has been homologated for the Jaguar F-Pace in a variety of sizes across P Zero and Scorpion Verde All Season. The P Zero has been homologated in sizes 265/40R22 106Y XL, 255/50R20 109W XL and 255/55R19 111W XL while the Scorpion Verde All Season has been homologated in size 235/65R18 110H XL.
Two weeks after it was previewed during the Geneva Motor Show, on 13 April Pirelli launched its latest P Zero tyre in Portugal, furthering the “made to measure” meets “extreme performance” pro-homologation message Pirelli has attached to its latest product.
Pirelli’s exclusive supply deal with the British GT Championship enters its second round on the high-speed banked oval and twisty infield of Northamptonshire’s Rockingham circuit on 30-31 April. Record-breaking lap times were set on the new P Zero rubber at the season’s curtain-raiser at Brands Hatch, with Derek Johnston and Jonny Adam claiming victory and an early GT3 championship lead in their TF Sport Aston Martin Vantage GT3. Competition was fiercer, with Bentley, Lamborghini and BMW making it four different manufacturers in the top four in the race.
Pirelli has announced its compound allocations for Formula One’s visit to Monaco. The chosen tyres include a debut for the P Zero Purple ultrasoft. The sixth round of the 2016 F1 season will be held on 26-29 May on the street circuit in Montecarlo.
Of all the tyres fitted to prestige vehicles at the Geneva Motor Show, 51 per cent were made by Pirelli. Pirelli’s premium vehicle share at the show was 32 per cent. According to Pirelli general manager, operations, Gregorio Borgo the Geneva shares are pretty much the same as Pirelli’s real-world market share. Now consider the fact that registration of prestige marques (the most exclusives brands) have increased seven-fold since 2000. During the same period, the registrations of premium marques have tripled. Meanwhile, general market registrations are only 1.5 times greater than they were at the turn of the millennium. With this in mind, you can see why Pirelli was keen to preview its latest P Zero tyre in the context of the Geneva motor show and why the company is emphasising so-called “marked tyres” more than ever.
Pirelli has reported its latest original equipment success. Following on from last month’s news that the Pirelli P Zero and Scorpion Winter will be supplied to the BMW X5 M and X6 M, the tyre maker shares that a number of tyre models and sizes have been approved as OE fitments for the new BMW 7 Series G11/G12.
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