Known for its style, speed and performance marketing values, Pirelli & C. S.p.A. is a multinational company based in Milan, Italy, listed on the Milan Stock Exchange since 1922, with a temporary privatization period by the consortium led by the Chinese state-owned enterprise ChemChina.
Italian sports car manufacturer Maserati has homologated Continental’s ContiSportContact 5 P for the new Quattroporte. This is the first approval the German tyre maker has ever received from Maserati, and the tyre will be supplied in six 19 to 21-inch sizes in line with equipment specifications and engine size. The tyres built specially for the Quattroporte will be marked with the letters “MGT” to avoid confusion with other tyres from the same series.
Kumho is promoting its ECSTA LE Sport KU39, an asymmetric ultra high performance tyre designed, as a product designed for Europe’s top car marques. According to the company, it was developed using the company’s KADAS prediction tools and on Europe’s most demanding test tracks. The Y speed rated product’s key selling points are said to be its enhanced performance, braking in wet conditions and controlled ride and refinement. Its high grip tread compound ensures maximum traction and braking performance, while its specially designed casing provides impressive high speed stability.
A small fire at Pirelli’s Carlisle tyre factory stopped production for around 90 minutes on Monday 3 June. Staff were evacuated in line with safety procedures. Firefighters attended shortly after the blaze broke out at the Dalston Road site at around 18:30.
While Formula One tyre supplier Pirelli has sought an end to some of the teams’ gripes about its current P Zero tyre specifications, the question of whether it will remain in the series after the expiration of its current contract remains in doubt. A similar list of names to that previously generated in mid-2010 has been circulated, when Bridgestone announced its withdrawal from the series. However, for at least one major player it appears the lack of development time and uncertainty about rule changes in the short to medium term mean that 2014 is too soon to enter the world’s most high-profile motorsport series.
Pirelli will test tyres during the practice session at the Canadian grand prix, the Formula One tyre supplier has announced. While the manufacturer had previously announced its intention to supply a new tyre range in Montreal, several teams, headed by Force India, held up the switch. Pirelli is now hoping to introduce the new P Zero F1 rubber at Silverstone for the British grand prix.
The continuing tyre debate in Formula One acquired a new facet over the long weekend, as details emerged of a 1,000km test Pirelli conducted in Barcelona after the Spanish grand prix. Red Bull and Ferrari have led official protests against the test, which is thought to have been conducted using the 2013 Mercedes car. This adds another layer of complexity to the ongoing debate over whether Pirelli will be allowed to change its 2013 specification rubber mid-season. Pirelli announced that it would make the changes to the rear tyres before the Canadian grand prix, but this intention is being held up by three teams – chiefly Force India, with Ferrari and Lotus joining the current impasse – who have refused to sign off on the replacement range. (You can follow the ongoing saga of Pirelli's 2013 F1 tyres in the links below this story.)
Nico Rosberg won his first race for Mercedes this year, ahead of Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel, who extended his championship lead. The German was in front from start to finish, starting on the P Zero Red supersoft tyre and then switching to the P Zero Yellow soft during a safety car period. An accident on lap 45 brought out the red flag and under the current rules the drivers were allowed to change tyres during the stoppage. Rosberg completed the race on the supersoft tyre, following yet another safety car period with 15 laps to go. Pirelli had predicted a one-stop strategy, and this proved to be the case for most of the field, excluding the re-start. Monaco is generally one of the easiest races on the tyres, partially as a result of well rubberised roads and lower speeds than specialist track races.
In the wake of Pirelli’s decision to provide a new range of tyres to Formula One after the Monaco Grand Prix this weekend, the series’ chief, Bernie Ecclestone has defended the manufacturer’s approach. While stopping short of praising the four early 2013 season P Zero compounds, Ecclestone noted the difficulties inherent in the task he gave Pirelli – to make tyres to last less than half a race. He explained that different driving styles, cars, circuits and operating temperatures make it difficult to provide a tyre that fits this specification.
Ever since agricultural-based biomaterials company Yulex Corporation was established, it has been supported by the University of Arizona; indeed, Yulex’s first experimental crops were planted on campus grounds and the university substantially contributed to Yulex's agronomic development successes. Yulex Corporation has now announced it will provide the University of Arizona a US$3 million, five-year grant. This grant focuses on the breeding and agronomic development of Guayule with the aim of producing biorubber for medical, consumer, and industrial applications.
Pirelli has announced that it will provide Formula One with a “new range” of tyres, starting at the Canadian Grand Prix on 7-9 June. The new tyres are described as a cross between the 2012 and 2013 models, and Pirelli has restated its hope to provide tyres that allow teams to make “two to three” pit stops per race. The change has followed mounting pressure from certain teams, the most prominent being Championship-leading Red Bull. Most recently Red Bull owner Dietrich Mateschitz added his dissenting voice to team principal, Christian Horner in claiming that F1 is “nothing to do with racing any more”. His comments followed the Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona, where the harsher conditions led to many drivers taking four pit stops. The revised construction of the new tyres is designed to dial back the focus on short-term performance in order to increase reliability. The current P Zero F1 range will make its final appearance at the Monaco Grand Prix on 24-26 May.
Before the Spanish Grand Prix, Paul Hembery spoke with Detlef Vogt, an editor with Tyres & Accessories’ sister magazine Neue Reifenzeitung. In this interview, the Motorsport director spoke in more detail about Pirelli’s Formula One tyre philosophy, the controversy that is quickly becoming a yearly tradition of the company’s supply tenure, and why the company is “not in the sport to be thanked or loved”.
Yet again Formula One is awash with dark whispers about the quality of the tyres provided by Pirelli. This past weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix, won in style by home favourite Fernando Alonso (Ferrari), witnessed 79 pit stops with the majority of drivers – including Alonso – opting to take four. Pirelli’s current strategy for Formula One is to produce tyres designed for two-three stops over the course of the race. Kimi Raikkonen (Lotus), who is having arguably the most impressive season so far sitting in second place in the Drivers’ Championship, was the most successful of the six drivers to remain within these guidelines, finishing second within 10 seconds of Alonso.
Vittorio Malacalza resigned from Pirelli & C. SpA on 10 May, stepping down from the position of deputy chairman and member of the board and prompting a clarification from the company’s corporate headquarters in Milan.
Pirelli Tire North America executive Tom Gravalos has been named CEO of Pirelli Neumaticos S.A. de C.V. in Mexico (Pirelli Mexico), effective immediately, reports Tire Review. Gravalos was vice president of marketing and OE for Pirelli Tire North America.
The first quarter of 2013 appears to have been a "brutto trimestre" for Pirelli & C. SpA, with the Italian firm’s net profit dropping 41.7 per cent year-on-year between 1 January and 31 March. It was, in Pirelli’s words, a period “characterised by an economic scenario still strongly influenced by the crisis affecting Europe, where the demand for goods and services continues to shrink.”
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