Pirelli travels to Albert Parks’ “slightly unusual” street circuit for the Formula 1 2019 season curtain-raiser in Melbourne, Australia this weekend. The exclusive tyre supplier nominated its C2, C3, and C4 compounds as the hard, medium, and soft tyres, saying that the track has a more flowing rhythm that also takes in some reasonably quick corners than stop-and-go street circuits, like Monaco or Singapore.
Pirelli’s ninth consecutive season as the exclusive tyre supplier to Formula 1 sees the manufacturer make several changes to its tyre range. This isn’t new – Pirelli has changed its tyres somewhat every season – but the changes to this year’s compounds, making their debut on the 2019 cars in Barcelona this week, offer a few more fundamental differences than we have recently come to expect.
Pirelli has confirmed that all five of its slick P Zero Formula 1 compounds will be seen in testing this year. Only three colours will be used on the slick tyres’ sidewalls to help spectators distinguish between the compounds this season – white plus Pirelli’s corporate yellow and red, in order of increasing softness. At each grand prix, the hardest compound tyre will have white sidewalls, the medium yellow, and the softest red.
Pirelli is involved in 10 major championships at the forefront of American motorsport. It commits 40 personnel to a variety of races and rallies every weekend, supplying tens of thousands of tyres. The scale of Pirelli’s competition involvement this year in North America shows, the company states, that motorsport on the continent has never been more relevant. This is because motorsport represents a part of the Italian company’s research and development for ultra-high performance tyres – an “open-air testing laboratory,” in its words – pushing the extremes of performance on track to create products for the road.
Pirelli’s agreement to supply tyres to Formula 1 for another four years follows a year in which the manufacturer confirmed it was working on a Cyber Tyre solution – Pirelli’s smart tyre development programme – for motorsport. After securing another term supplying the pinnacle of motorsport Pirelli’s car racing manager Mario Isola tells Tyres & Accessories why the tyre manufacturer was so keen to continue with its Formula 1 supply deal.
Pirelli has opened a fourth branch of its tyre boutique retail concept P Zero World on a third continent. The store follows previous openings in Los Angeles, Munich and Monte-Carlo. More than 60 supercars belonging to local collectors formed a parade through the city to mark the Dubai opening. The following day more than 200 cars took to the track at Yas Marina in Abu Dhabi for the P Zero Experience: Pirelli’s track day event.
The Briggs Automotive Company (BAC) and Pirelli have announced a new original equipment agreement at Autosport International. Pirelli’s head of car racing, Mario Isola, Pirelli UK motorsport manager Jonathan Wells, and BAC co-founders Neill and Ian Briggs jointly introduced the arrangement, which means the British manufacturer’s Mono will run on the P Zero Trofeo R.
Pirelli is bringing a splash of colour to the Ferrari Challenge. The safety car used in the single-marque championship will be fitted with P Zero Color Edition tyres, with a different colour used for each country where a round takes place.
Pirelli has continued its late-season trend of introducing softer Formula One compounds than in 2016 with its selection for the Japanese grand prix at Suzuka. Mario Isola, head of car racing, says that “this is particularly pertinent” at Suzuka, “as it’s one of the most challenging tracks for tyres of the entire year, with a very big emphasis on lateral loads that can cause thermal degradation if the tyres are not properly managed.
The winners of this year’s British GT Championship titles in both the GT3 and GT4 classes will be decided in a two-hour race at Donington Park on Sunday, where all entrants will be equipped with Pirelli tyres. The track, which also hosts the World Superbike Championship, supplied by Pirelli, is only a 14-mile drive from the manufacturer’s Burton-upon-Trent facility, making it something of a home track.
Mercedes, led by Lewis Hamilton, took the top two podium steps at Monza’s Italian grand prix as nearly every driver chose a one-stop supersoft-soft strategy. Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo adopted a different strategy, starting on a soft and moving to the supersoft for the second stint to move 12 places up from his starting position of 16th on the grid – the result of penalties. The Australian also set the fastest lap of the race, which was two seconds faster than last year’s equivalent, using the same tyres.
Pirelli has added the inaugural Suzuka 10 Hours to its portfolio of international GT races and championships. The race is scheduled for 23-26 August 2018. The race, featuring GT3 cars, will be the first-ever encounter between Japanese Super GT300 and international GT cars, all running on Pirelli P Zero tyres on one of the most exciting and demanding circuits in the world. Pirelli states that its association with the world’s most prestigious car brands, and premier championships such as the Blancpain GT Series, contribute to its global leadership in ultra-high performance tyres.
The latest round of the Pirelli-supplied Blancpain GT Series Sprint Cup was won by the WRT Audi crew of Marcel Fassler and Dries Vanthoor, who stamped their authority on the 60-minute main race, having started from pole following success in Saturday’s qualifying race. The main race was extremely closely-fought, with the top six cars covered […]
Pirelli will supply the tyres for the British GT Championship’s blue-riband event: the Silverstone 500. With a single three-hour endurance race, this round features 50 per cent more racing than any other event and unique strategic opportunities for the teams, all of whom race on Pirelli P Zero tyres.
Snetterton hosts the third event of the British GT Championship season this weekend, with a pair of one-hour races to be contested by a provisional field of 28 supercars all equipped with Pirelli P Zero tyres.
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