Paul Hembery Archives - Page 15 of 18 - Tyrepress

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Pirelli announces upcoming F1 tyre choices

After almost half a season of sitting on the sidelines, Pirelli’s medium Formula One tyre will finally take to the track at Valencia at the end of June. Its supersoft counterpart has a much shorter wait before seeing action for the first time, however – the Italian tyre maker reports the supersoft will debut at the Monaco Grand Prix on May 26; at this, the seventh event of the 2011 championship, the supersoft tyre will be used as option and the soft as the prime tyre. This combination will also be repeated two weeks later in Montréal. July’s Silverstone-hosted British Grand Prix will see a return to the use of the hard tyre as prime and the soft as an option – just as was the case during the first five Grands Prix of the season.

10th May 2011/by Tyrepress Editors

Vettel takes third F1 win in lively Turkish GP

After crashing on Friday and missing the entirety of the second free practice session, Sebastian Vettel took his third grand prix win of the year, using a four-stop strategy to convert his pole position in Turkey to victory. The top five finishers used a four-stop strategy for the first time this year. Jenson Button was obliged to concede two places in the closing stages of the race, finishing sixth for McLaren, after a three-stop strategy forced him to run on PZero Silver tyres that were seven laps older than those of his team mate. Virgin’s Jerome d’Ambrosio drove a two-stop strategy, while Sauber driver Kamui Kobayashi used a three-stop strategy to help propel him from last on the grid to a point-scoring 10th place finish.

9th May 2011/by Tyrepress Editors

Hamilton beats Vettel through superior tyre strategy

Pirelli’s aim to put tyres at front-centre in Formula One race analyses in its first season as sole tyre supplier once again paid off, as McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton employed a three-stop strategy to give him the fresh rubber he needed to overcome Sebastian Vettel’s faster-qualifying Red Bull in the Chinese Grand Prix’s closing stages. Hamilton passed Vettel for the lead with four laps to go, with the German driver then forced to defend his lead from Jenson Button in the other McLaren and his Red Bull team mate Mark Webber, who recovered to finish on the podium after exiting qualifying in the first round, itself caused by the Australian’s desire to keep the softer option PZero fresh for racing.

18th April 2011/by Tyrepress Editors

Pirelli responds to F1 driver “concern over ‘tyre marbles’”

Formula One tyre supplier Pirelli has responded positively to concerns voiced by drivers Fernando Alonso of Ferrari and Renault’s Vitaly Petrov – among others – over “tyre marbles”, or crumbs of rubber left on track as a result of Pirelli’s desire to increase interest in racing through tyre degradation. Petrov claimed his ignominious exit at the Malaysian Grand Prix was caused by the rubber particles caused by increased tyre wear. Pirelli motorsport director Paul Hembery responded by maintaining that the “marbles” were a “natural consequence” of the manufacturer’s policy of providing tyres to help build racing excitement, but that it would seek ways of reducing the rubber left on track without undermining this principle. Pirelli is currently preparing for the Chinese Grand Prix, which begins tomorrow. A video interview with Hembery following the Malaysian Grand Prix is available in the subscribers area below.

14th April 2011/by Tyrepress Editors

Tyre management vital as Vettel, Button and Heidfeld take Malaysia podium

As Championship leader Sebastian Vettel noted after his win at the Malaysian Grand Prix, it is still early in Formula One’s race calendar, but Pirelli’s PZero F1 tyres appear to be having the manufacturer’s desired effects of placing tyres at centre-stage and aiding overtaking. For the second race in succession, Red Bull’s Vettel converted pole position to a win, with tyre strategy proving crucial. The drivers who best looked after their tyres in the punishing conditions of Malaysia were rewarded with the top positions, with McLaren and Lotus Renault, driven respectively by Jenson Button and Nick Heidfeld, who went from Pirelli test driver to podium finisher in less than six months, having held off a strong last-ditch challenge by Mark Webber.

11th April 2011/by Tyrepress Editors

Pirelli F1 tyre “faultless” after Malaysian practice day turns up heat

Pirelli motorsport director Paul Hembery says that the Formula One sole supplier’s tyres have “performed faultlessly” in the extreme heat of Malaysia’s Sepang circuit in the opening practice day for the second Grand Prix of the season. Track temperatures climbed to 51 degrees centigrade while the company measured an ambient temperature of 37 degrees. So far the soft tyres have been around 1.2 seconds per lap quicker than the hard compound, though Pirelli predicts they will run at that standard for between eight and 10 laps in the race. The soft tyres provided for Malaysia and China, characterised by yellow logos, have been given additional markings in order to distinguish them more clearly. A gold band has been drawn round the circumference of the tyre. Pirelli intends to revise the markings for greater visibility in time for the Turkish Grand Prix in May, when the Formula One season arrives in Europe.

8th April 2011/by Tyrepress Editors

Pirelli reports ‘no issues’ with F1 tyres in Australia

“What a fantastic race” – these are the words of Pirelli motorsport director Paul Hembery following the Australian Grand Prix, the tyre maker’s first race under its three-year supply agreement. As Pirelli predicted, most runners made two to three pit stops – eleven of the 16 classified finishers, including race winner Sebastian Vettel, stopped twice, with five finishers stopping three times and one driver – 21-year-old rookie Sergio Perez – stopping only once en route to seventh place. The total race time was three minutes quicker than last year, a time saving that Pirelli says underlines the performance of its PZero tyres.

28th March 2011/by Tyrepress Editors

Pirelli begins its F1 adventure

All the speculation and arguments surrounding the new Pirelli PZero Formula One tyre will be momentarily hushed as the action finally gets underway in Melbourne, with teams grappling with the novel conditions of a new tyre with completely different characteristics to the former Bridgestone Potenza model. After 33 days of testing (15 at official tests and 18 in private testing) this weekend’s Australian Grand Prix will give Formula One the chance to see how the new rubber will affect the way teams approach the race; debates around the tyres will begin once again after the race’s conclusion, but what is certain is that those drivers best equipped to deal with the different tyres will be those who prevail.

22nd March 2011/by Tyrepress Editors

Pirelli’s Hembery made Richard Burns Foundation trustee

Paul Hembery, Pirelli’s motorsport director, has become a trustee of the Richard Burns Foundation, established in memory of the 2001 world rally champion. “Richard was the first world champion I worked with and he set the bar in terms of being a highly motivated and competitive athlete, while remaining a very grounded, decent person and I was proud to call him a friend,” said Hembery. “Taking on the role of trustee for the Richard Burns Foundation is a privilege.”

15th March 2011/by Tyrepress Editors

De la Rosa returns to McLaren; Pirelli to announce new F1 test driver

Pedro de la Rosa, who last September stepped in to replace Nick Heidfeld as Pirelli’s Formula One test driver following the German’s unexpected and ultimately short-sighted departure, has rejoined the McLaren F1 team as official test and reserve driver. De la Rosa originally joined McLaren back in 2003 and worked with the team for more than seven seasons, helping develop cars that scored 29 victories, not to mention the drivers’ world championship with Lewis Hamilton in 2008.

10th March 2011/by Tyrepress Editors

F1 tyre testing options boosted by regulation amendment

Amendments to the Formula One Sporting Regulations announced by the World Motor Sport Council on March 8 give tyre supplier Pirelli the option of evaluating new types of tyre during race meetings this year. The amendment states that “at certain events, one additional specification of dry weather tyre may be made available to all teams for evaluation purposes.” The Italian tyre maker adds that the option to try out new tyres “will be entirely at the discretion of the FIA, together with Pirelli, and it will only be exercised if the correct opportunity arises.”

9th March 2011/by Tyrepress Editors

Pirelli, F1 teams return to Barcelona for further tests

The cancellation of the Bahrain Grand Prix has prompted the arrangement of an extra Formula One test session, and today Pirelli returns to Barcelona along with the 12 teams competing in this season’s championship. Tests will take place over a five-day period, with each team testing for a maximum of four days each. This test period will bring the teams’ total number of pre-season test days up to the agreed upon 15 days.

8th March 2011/by Tyrepress Editors

Low Barca temperatures led to different F1 tyre characteristics: Hembery

Pirelli’s motorsport director Paul Hembery has noted the different characteristics of the company’s Formula One PZero tyres in unusually cold Barcelona testing last weekend, admitting that “ambient temperatures were not what we hoped to see”. Tests started in temperatures as low as only 6 degrees centigrade, and Hembery made the point that Grands Prix will be run in temperatures “of at least 15 degrees”. Nevertheless, Hembery was pleased with the attention being paid to the tyres, as Pirelli makes its debut in Formula One’s modern era.

22nd February 2011/by Tyrepress Editors

Pirelli announces compounds for first four F1 races

Pirelli has announced that it will take its hard and soft slick compounds to the first four Grands Prix of the 2011 season. Pirelli’s motorsport director Paul Hembery suggested the compounds would offer the best racing for both spectators and drivers in Bahrain – currently under threat due to ongoing political protests, according to the sport's UK broadcaster the BBC – Australia, Malaysia and China. The manufacturer said the decision had been reached on the back of data collected in 18,000km of private testing in Europe and the Middle East, as well as three group tests to date.

17th February 2011/by Tyrepress Editors

“Faultless” run for Pirelli at second F1 test

Following the conclusion of the official Formula One group test, held in Jerez, Pirelli reports its PZero tyres have enjoyed “another faultless run.” The four days of testing at the Spanish circuit presented the opportunity to present the full range of Pirelli tyres, although the wide variety of medium to high speed corners at Jerez meant that the supersoft tyres saw very little action and the teams instead favoured the soft, medium and hard compounds.

14th February 2011/by Tyrepress Editors