Paul Hembery Archives - Page 9 of 18 - Tyrepress

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Title showdown setup vindicates Pirelli’s Austin conservatism

McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton – the winner of the last United States Grand Prix in 2008 – won the first race at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas, while second for Sebastian Vettel put the Red Bull driver on the verge of a third consecutive title at the championship decider in Brazil. Third place for Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso – the German’s only championship rival – has also kept his title hopes alive, meaning that for the first time in its history Pirelli will come to the final race of the season as sole tyre supplier with two drivers fighting it out for the championship crown on the last round. Pirelli’s Paul Hembery expressed the company’s excitement at the position of the championship. While he admitted Pirelli could have supplied its softest compounds at Austin, the company could be forgiven for erring on the side of caution, with so little data available for the new circuit.

20th November 2012/by Tyrepress Editors

US Grand Prix visits new track for Pirelli and for teams

When teams arrive at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas for the forthcoming US Grand Prix, they will be stepping onto a newly-built track that has never been raced on before. Tyre supplier Pirelli is bringing the P Zero Silver hard and P Zero White medium tyres: a reasonably conservative compound choice for a circuit where there are still a number of unknown factors when it comes to tyre performance.

13th November 2012/by Tyrepress Editors

Vettel scrambles to retain lead as Raikkonen seals first Pirelli win

Lotus driver and 2007 Drivers’ Champion, Kimi Raikkonen sealed the first victory of his Formula One comeback with Pirelli in Abu Dhabi; the 19th of his career. The Finn used a one-stop strategy, fast becoming the favoured method of negotiating a Grand Prix on Pirelli’s second season tyres, stopping on lap 31 to move from the P Zero Yellow soft to the P Zero White medium tyres. Having started fourth on the grid, he took the lead following the retirement of McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton on lap 19, holding it to the finish. Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso used an identical strategy to Raikkonen, stopping three laps earlier, reducing his gap to the lead of the Drivers’ Championship to 10 points with two races to go. He would have closed the gap even more had it not been for the current leader, Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel, who started from the pit lane after having his qualifying times disallowed.

5th November 2012/by Tyrepress Editors

Vettel unbeatable in India after “masterclass” in tyre management

Red Bull driver Sebastian Vettel completed a perfect win to consolidate his lead in the Formula One Drivers’ Championship in India, using the low levels of degradation experienced with both of Pirelli’s P Zero compounds to finish at the head of a grid that mostly emulated his one-stop strategy. Vettel was fastest in every session to claim his fourth race victory in a row, achieving a similar feat to last year’s visit to the Buddh circuit – Pirelli points out that no other driver has ever led a lap there.

29th October 2012/by Tyrepress Editors

Pirelli to reduce tyres’ performance gap at Indian Grand Prix

Pirelli will take its hard and soft tyre compounds to India when Formula One visits the Buddh circuit for the second time this weekend, just like in 2011, though this year the P Zero Silver and P Zero Yellow tyres are softer compared to their equivalents last year. The tyre supplier says a better knowledge of the circuit and some real data have allowed Pirelli to be less conservative this time, and the brand is confident that these tyres should lead to even closer racing. Last year, the performance gap between compounds was around 2 seconds. Another factor affecting tyre strategy is the 600m pit lane – the longest in F1 – which adds considerable time to pit stops.

22nd October 2012/by Tyrepress Editors

Pirelli prepares for Austin, Texas’s Circuit of the Americas

Pirelli takes its P Zero and Cinturato branded Formula One tyres to the USA Grand Prix at the Circuit of the Americas between 16 and 18 November, and has been preparing for its first visit to Austin, Texas using simulation work. The data for its preparation was obtained from a visit to the track during its construction; the track will only be opened officially this weekend 20-21 October. While practically every circuit was new to Pirelli last season, the circuit is one of only two – and since the other was the thoroughly established Hockenheim, the Circuit of the Americas could be seen as the brand’s biggest challenge of the year. (While it had not raced at Bahrain before, the Italian firm had tested there in the past, and had plenty of information to fall back on.)

19th October 2012/by Tyrepress Editors

Safety car dictates Singapore tyre strategy

Red Bull driver Sebastian Vettel took his second win of the season in Singapore with a two-stop tyre strategy, which prevailed following two safety car periods. Vettel started from third on the grid with the P Zero Red supersoft tyre and then completed two stints on the P Zero Yellow soft tyre, which had been nominated for the weekend. Vettel’s winning margin was nine seconds over McLaren’s Jenson Button, who adopted the same strategy, pitting four laps later for his first pit stop than Vettel.

24th September 2012/by Tyrepress Editors

Hamilton takes advantage of Pirelli durability at Monza

Lewis Hamilton recorded McLaren’s third consecutive win this year at the Italian Grand Prix, adopting a one-stop strategy to claim victory from Sauber’s Sergio Perez, who started from 12th on the grid, and used a different one-stop strategy to dazzling effect. Pirelli’s P Zero Silver hard tyre and P Zero White medium were the compounds available at Monza, and the two hardest tyres in the Formula One range showed good performance and durability. Hamilton ran 30 laps on the hard tyre at the end of the race, while the speed of the medium tyre – which Perez used for his 24-lap final stint – enabled him to lap more than two seconds faster than his closest rivals at one point.

10th September 2012/by Tyrepress Editors

Pirelli to take hard, medium tyres to ‘home’ Grand Prix

The Italian Grand Prix takes place this weekend (7-9 September, 2012) in Monza, following swiftly behind the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa, and Pirelli returns to its home nation with the same P Zero White and Silver tyres it used in the previous meeting. Monza is the fastest circuit on the Formula One calendar, and puts similarly high energy loading through the tyres as at Spa. Pirelli, which knows the circuit well since the Autodromo Nazionale is situated half an hour’s drive from the company’s Milan headquarters. Pirelli highlights the first chicane, characterised by heavy downhill braking; the Ascari curves, with their several rapid direction changes; and the famous Parabolica, a wide, open radius corner that puts a lot of lateral stress through the tyres as being the most challenging areas for its rubber. Pirelli says these sections, coupled with some of the season’s fastest straights, mean tyre temperatures can peak at up to 130°C and choosing the right tyre for the conditions will be important.

4th September 2012/by Tyrepress Editors

Button cruises to second 2012 victory at Belgian GP

McLaren’s Jenson Button completed a dominant weekend to win the Belgian Grand Prix. Only second-placed Sebastian Vettel could match the Briton’s ability to look after his tyres, using an almost identical one-stop strategy – medium compound P Zero White tyres, changed to hard compound P Zero Silvers just before the midway point – to finish 13 seconds behind Button, who led from start to finish. This was the first race at which a driver has achieved this in 2012 While Button’s imperious drive would have taken some beating, Vettel’s ascent from tenth on the grid was aided by a spectacular smash involving Championship leader Fernando Alonso and McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton at the first corner, over which Lotus’s Romain Grosjean has been handed a one-race ban.

3rd September 2012/by Tyrepress Editors

Outdated test vehicle hindering Pirelli’s F1 tyre development

During an interview with a Brazilian publication, Pirelli motorsport director Paul Hembery expressed his frustration at the lack of cooperation Formula One teams have provided the tyre maker. Hembery told TotalRace that the small operating window of this season’s tyres could have been avoided had the teams agreed to give Pirelli use of a current race vehicle for testing.

22nd August 2012/by Tyrepress Editors

Ex-Pirelli Star Driver Evans wins Rally Finland

Former Pirelli Star Driver Elfyn Evans claimed victory in last weekend’s Neste Oil Rally Finland, round three of the Pirelli-backed WRC Academy. Evans’ win marks the Briton’s second consecutive victory in this year’s series.

7th August 2012/by Tyrepress Editors

Performance the public can’t see – Hembery’s take on a F1 tyre war

Last week Pirelli’s motorsport director again spoke out against the possibility of Formula One returning to a multiple tyre supplier championship. Paul Hembery commented to Autosport.com that a so-called tyre war would not make sense, as in his opinion it would make the racing less exciting and could adversely affect audience numbers.

6th August 2012/by Tyrepress Editors

Hamilton’s soft tyre preservation key in Hungarian victory

McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton claimed a dominant victory at the Hungarian Grand Prix, having been quickest during free practice and qualifying. Hamilton’s qualifying pace had allowed the driver to preserve a set of soft compound Pirelli P Zero Yellow tyres for racing on the Sunday; the McLaren built a lead in the first part of the race, before using the particularly narrow Hungaroring’s lack of overtaking opportunities to defend from the Lotus team in the rest of the race. Hamilton’s two-stop strategy was enough to claim victory by one second heading into the mid-season break. Ferrari driver Fernando Alonso, leading the championship with great recent form finished fifth after qualifying sixth, thus increasing his lead of the drivers’ championship to 40 points, as his nearest rivals at Red Bull were only able to finish fourth (Sebastian Vettel) and eighth (Mark Webber). Nine races remain, with Alonso 40 points ahead of a chasing pack of four – Webber, Vettel, Hamilton and Lotus’ Kimi Raikkonen.

30th July 2012/by Tyrepress Editors

Pirelli tyre supplier for GT1 World Championship successor

Next year a new Sprint Series is set to replace the FIA GT1 World Championship, which is currently exclusively supplied by Pirelli along with the FIA GT3 European Championship. The new championship will be combined with the current Blancpain Endurance Series, with an overall title for both. The cars, calendars and tyre regulations will ensure that competitors can take part in both series, with a GT world title awarded to the overall winners. Pirelli reports it will supply tyres to the new championship next year on an exclusive basis.

30th July 2012/by Tyrepress Editors