Paul Hembery Archives - Page 13 of 18 - Tyrepress

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Pirelli “proud to fully support” FOTA Fans Forum at Italian GP

Pirelli welcomed more than 200 fans to its Milan headquarters on Wednesday for the Formula One Teams Association Fans Forum event prior to the Italian Grand Prix this weekend. Formula One personalities Stefano Domenicali, Nico Rosberg and Jarno Trulli, as well as Pirelli’s motorsport director Paul Hembery, were the special guests, along with engineers Nicolo Petrucci (head of aerodynamics, Toro Rosso) and Giampaolo Dall’Ara (race engineer, Sauber). Hembery said the ability to “connect with the public” is “vital” in making the sport “more relevant and accessible than ever,” a feature of the current F1 philosophy that the company has maintained is influential in its decision to supply its tyres.

9th September 2011/by Tyrepress Editors

Pirelli to request F1 waste tyre regulation

Pirelli motorsport director Paul Hembery has told Autosport.com that the tyre supplier to Formula One will seek a regulation change for 2012 to stop teams from wasting allocated rubber. The manufacturer currently supplies 11 sets of tyres to each driver – split between six harder and five softer compound P Zeros – which is resulting in wasted harder tyres, as teams prefer to run the quicker tyre. The fact that the softer, quicker compound will degenerate more quickly is circumvented by teams running less frequently, especially in qualifying, which has resulted in farcical sessions during which some drivers opt not to compete so as to preserve the softer tyres. The concern of waste tyres for Pirelli operates on both an ecological and an economical level, as the motorsport director explains.

6th September 2011/by Tyrepress Editors

Pirelli brings soft and medium tyres to home GP

Pirelli has good reason to anticipate this weekend’s Italian Grand Prix at Monza more than other events in the calendar; located in parkland just half an hour from the Italian firm’s headquarters to the north of Milan, the track – one of Formula One’s fastest with an average speed in the region of 250kmh – has been integral to the brand’s motorsport history. Pirelli will bring its P Zero White (medium) and P Zero Yellow (soft) tyres to Monza, which the supplier anticipates will provide plenty of scope for the teams to use different tyre strategies.

5th September 2011/by Tyrepress Editors

Vettel overcomes tyre blistering to extend F1 championship lead

Blistering issues in qualifying with Pirelli’s Formula One P Zero tyres in Belgium did not stop Sebastian Vettel from converting his pole position into another Grand Prix victory over the 44 laps of the Spa-Francorchamps circuit. Pirelli was involved in pre-race discussions with Formula One competitors and administrators after its tyres appeared to degrade as a result of the cars’ set-up for the long, fast straights of Spa. Pirelli motorsport director Paul Hembery said that the “problem was seemingly a consequence of some cars placing an excessive load on the inner shoulder of the front tyre due to their set-up and so overheating the compound.” He also explained that this overheating “did not at all affect the structural integrity of the tyre,” an opinion borne out by Vettel’s victory, as he appeared to be one of those most affected by tyre blistering.

30th August 2011/by Tyrepress Editors

“Old-style” Spa circuit a driver’s track – Pirelli

Previewing the weekend’s Formula One action, Pirelli has called Belgium’s Spa Francorchamps circuit “an epic track… a true driver’s track. With the longest lap of the season, the track poses plenty of questions for the tyres too: the Eau Rouge corner puts the equivalent of 1,000 kilograms on the front-left tyre and 950 kilograms on the rear tyre; Pouhon is a demanding downhill left-hand corner with 4G of sideways acceleration throughout the bend; the third sector demands full speed for a long period of time, leaving the tyres to cope with a vertical load of 1,100kg from downforce; and during the final part of the lap, the drivers brake hard for the Bus Stop chicane.

25th August 2011/by Tyrepress Editors

Spa circuit “exactly in keeping” with Pirelli F1 “tyre philosophy”

With corners such as Eau Rouge and Blanchimont testing drivers and tyres alike, Pirelli says the longest track on the Formula One calendar will pose a range of challenges, especially considering the variable weather that characterises the region – in fact, the length of the circuit means that different microclimates can mean the track is both wet and dry depending on where drivers are. The tyre supplier will take its P Zero White medium and P Zero Yellow soft compounds – like at the Grand Prix of Europe and the German Grand Prix earlier this year – but it is likely the P Zero Blue intermediate tyre will play a key role once again. Pirelli has not tested at Spa-Francorchamps, and the high vertical and lateral loadings on the tyres, mean that the manufacturer will be in for an intriguing weekend. The length of the lap should help differentiate between the two compounds more too, which will enhance the importance of tyre strategy. Pirelli expects wear to be quite low, owing to the cool conditions and flowing nature of the track, with fewer sharp corners than at most other circuits.

22nd August 2011/by Tyrepress Editors

Pirelli drops F1 hard compound

Pirelli’s announcement regarding the tyre selections for the Belgium, Italy and Singapore Grands Prix has been followed by the news that the manufacturer’s Motorsport director Paul Hembery doesn’t “think we’ll see the hard compound again”. Speaking with Autosport, Hembery stated that the medium compound P Zero F1 tyre is “proving sufficiently robust for the aggressive circuits”, speculating that a new compound could be inserted “between the current softs and mediums”, making the current medium compound the hardest of the four.

8th August 2011/by Tyrepress Editors

Pirelli counters Ferrari bias suspicions over F1 tyre allocations

Tyrepress.com reported Pirelli’s selected tyres for the Belgium, Italy and Singapore Grands Prix earlier in the week, and reaction to the news that the tyre supplier will make its soft P Zero Yellow tyre available at all three events seemed to raise a few eyebrows in motorsport circles. Spa-Francorchamps and Monza are two of the faster circuits on the Formula One calendar, and it was suggested Ferrari’s preference for the softer tyres had influenced Pirelli’s choice to bring the Yellow tyre alongside the medium P Zero White. However Paul Hembery, Pirelli Motorsport director, has rebuffed the suggestion that the choice was made to benefit any team in particular.

5th August 2011/by Tyrepress Editors

Pirelli confirms Belgian, Italian, Singaporean F1 tyre allocations

Formula One tyre supplier Pirelli has announced the tyre compounds it will take to the Grands Prix in Belgium, Italy and Singapore. The two European races will see the P Zero Yellow (soft) and White (medium) tyres used, while Pirelli will take the P Zero Red (super soft) and Yellow to the Asian night race to take on the streets of the island’s major city, where grip will be at a premium.

3rd August 2011/by Tyrepress Editors

Button wins again in changing weather at Hungaroring

McLaren’s Jenson Button took his second victory in mixed conditions at the Hungaroring, to follow his win in similar weather in Canada earlier this year. The Englishman was assured of victory after his team mate Lewis Hamilton changed onto intermediate tyres in the closing stages of the race only to find that the conditions were not wet enough, forcing him to revert to slicks in his fifth pit stop of the afternoon. In an intriguing move, Hamilton had saved an extra set of supersoft tyres for the race during qualifying, allowing him to find extra grip even in the damp middle stages of the race. However, a gamble on more rain failed to pay off and he finished fourth, leaving Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel and Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso to take the podium’s lower steps.

1st August 2011/by Tyrepress Editors

Sky and BBC to share F1 – Pirelli keeps “an open mind”

It was announced last week that in spite of excellent viewing figures and widely lauded coverage, Formula One has made a deal that will mean that only half the races will be shown live on the BBC from next season. Every race, testing and qualifying session will be shown live on Sky Sports with ten Grands Prix also appearing on the BBC, in addition to highlights of those events for which Sky will hold exclusive live rights. The new arrangement comes two years before the BBC’s current exclusive broadcaster deal was due to end. Exclusive tyre supplier Pirelli has reacted with circumspection to the news, suggesting that it will give close scrutiny to the viewing figures it receives under the new deal.

1st August 2011/by Tyrepress Editors

Pirelli’s softest F1 tyres to take on hotter challenge in Hungary

The tight and twisty Hungaroring on the outskirts of Budapest will offer an increased hot weather challenge to Pirelli’s soft and super soft tyres in the Hungarian Grand Prix. The circuit’s infrequent use makes the surface dusty and slippery that Pirelli expect will offer more grip as the weekend progresses and rubber is laid down. The slippery surface is the reason for the supplier’s choice of its PZero Yellow and PZero Red tyres, with 16 tight corners and a low average speed making the circuit better suited to the softer tyres. The high temperatures are likely to represent a conservation challenge, especially since this is the first time the supersoft Red compound will be used in very warm weather.

26th July 2011/by Tyrepress Editors

“Exactly what we were aiming for” – Hembery at German GP

Paul Hembery, Formula One tyre supplier Pirelli’s motorsport director, has hailed both the varied strategies of drivers in the German Grand Prix and race winner Lewis Hamilton’s use of the less-fancied medium compound PZero White tyre as indicative of the brand’s continued success in its first season back in the sport. The victory was Hamilton’s second of the 2011 season following 60 laps of battles for the lead. Ferrari driver Fernando Alonso was second, ahead of Red Bull Racing’s Mark Webber – who started from pole – in third.

25th July 2011/by Tyrepress Editors

Heidfeld returns to Pirelli – as guest – for the German Grand Prix

A reunion of sorts took place yesterday as part of the German Grand Prix run-up activities: Pirelli’s pre-race press event was visited by the tyre maker’s original test driver, Nick Heidfeld. Although some frowned upon the German driver’s departure from Pirelli last year to secure a driving position with Sauber Motorsport, Heidfeld was welcomed as the star guest at the Pirelli event, which was hosted by Pirelli Germany managing director Michael Schwobel and Pirelli’s motorsport director Paul Hembery.

22nd July 2011/by Tyrepress Editors

Pirelli bringing PZero White and Yellow to Nürburgring

Formula One visits the Nürburgring this weekend for the German Grand Prix, and Pirelli has selected its soft and medium compounds to take on the technical GP track, which has a strong mix of speeds and corners. The track features a number of heavy braking areas, while the tyres are also put to the test by several impacts with the kerbing that is a feature of the track. Pirelli’s motorsport director Paul Hembery says: “The Nurburgring is one of the most technical circuits we face all year, with a lot of lateral energy going through the tyres, and this makes strategy very important.”

20th July 2011/by Tyrepress Editors