Silverstone [United Rubber (PVT) Ltd.]
This year’s GEA gold day was staged at Whittlebury Park near Silverstone and with 18 teams was one of the best supported in recent years. According to the Garage Equipment Association, the event was all about raising cash for the motor trade charity BEN and this year’s profits were £2,927, which all goes to the charity.
Porsche set a world record at the Silverstone Classic, as more than 1,000 911s took to the track in a parade to celebrate the model’s 50th anniversary. Pirelli sponsored the parade, as part of its Porsche Club Great Britain partnership agreement signed earlier this year, which stipulated that Pirelli will support Porsche Club GB financially and with tyres and on-event expertise. 1,208 Porsche 911s, which included an array of Carrera, GT, RS, RSR, Speedster, Targa and turbo variants, took part in the parade, which helped raise funds for national cancer charity, Hope for Tomorrow.
Pirelli has announced that it will take its P Zero Orange (hard) and White (medium) compound Formula One tyres to Spa and Monza this year, while the final street race in Singapore will see the use of the P Zero Red supersoft compound along with the White. If there a whiff of conservatism about Pirelli’s tyre choices for the two fastest tracks of the year, you wouldn’t necessarily blame the tyre supplier. Following the harshness and high profile of the criticism it has received in 2013 – building to the crescendo after the British grand prix – the latest announcement is perhaps an indication of a change in thinking; perhaps it would be good not to talk about degrading Pirelli tyres for a while. On the other hand, Pirelli reasons that at these most demanding of tracks, the harder compounds are simply best-equipped to deal with the conditions, and Pirelli has tended to steer clear of by default providing tyres two compound steps apart, as had become conventional in the recent past. Of course, Singapore will provide an opportunity to see if this idea provides more strategic choices for teams and drivers. Motorsport director Paul Hembery reiterated his view that the tyres selected would provide the “best opportunities for strategy” and be “the most effective race tyres.”
Pirelli is back at Silverstone this weekend following its recent Formula One visits for the Silverstone Classic. The manufacturer will sponsor a Porsche 911 parade of the GP circuit on Sunday 28 July to commemorate its 60th anniversary, having signed a minimum three-year deal to sponsor Porsche Club Great Britain. Pirelli’s financial support of Porsche Club GB, as well as providing it with tyres and on-event technical expertise, are part of this agreement, makes it the official tyre supplier to the 16-race Porsche Club Championship series for production-based Porsches. Pirelli will also bring its F1 simulator and hospitality unit to the annual three-day event, from which it will run a number of competitions with prizes including drive experience days at Thruxton race circuit.
Pirelli travels to the Hungaroring with the new mash-up tyre selection sampled by 2013 drivers at Silverstone’s Young Driver Test last week this weekend. Consisting of the 2013 compounds in the tread and the 2012 Kevlar-belted construction, Pirelli channelled its inner Thom Yorke, pronouncing there were no alarms and no surprises following the “reliable” testing of the ‘new’ tyres’ performance. Pirelli’s Motorsport director Paul Hembery was diplomatic following the Young Driver Test, opining that “everybody achieved their objectives” at Silverstone. Thanking the teams for their cooperation in running tyre tests as required by Pirelli, he said the tyres had run “reliably throughout the three days”, and maintained the hope that they would allow teams to use “an interesting mix of strategies for the races ahead”. Yet with teams already possessing “a lot of information about the shape and deformation of this tyre from the previous season,” according to Hembery, it seems likely that these new compromise tyres could reduce tactical malleability. That said, the Hungarian grand prix will allow some focus on tyre strategy, with limited overtaking opportunities and low average speeds, so perhaps there could be more to talk about from a tyre point of view than Tyrepress.com anticipates.
Bridgestone has taken its inflatable exhibition stand to the Warwickshire countryside for three days, where 129,000 visited Ragley Hall, Alcester to see around 900 exhibits at the CLA Game Fair Show. Featuring farming, shooting, fishing, archery and craft stands, the manufacturer says it presented a good opportunity to show off its tyres, including motorcycle, passenger car, all-weather and 4×4 ranges.
Pirelli has released two statements to explain the reasons behind the spate of tyre failures at the British grand prix. The exclusive tyre supplier said that the “sophisticated” asymmetric construction of the current P Zero Formula One slicks meant that tyre management methods employed by teams, such as mounting rear tyres on the opposite side to that for which they were designed, reduced tyre pressures, and extreme cambers had combined with the high kerbs at Silverstone to cause the problems, which Pirelli Motorsport director Paul Hembery described as “completely unexpected”. While Hembery was adamant that the “2013 range of tyres, used in the correct way, is completely safe”, he accepted that Pirelli had “underestimated” the effects that these unconventional running techniques would have on the tyres, and had declined to forbid mounting tyres the wrong way around. In future, Pirelli is seeking, with the agreement of FIA, FOM, the teams and the drivers, greater control over the ways in which its F1 tyres are utilised.
To say that June was an interesting month for the tyre industry is something of an understatement. It was explosive – and in at least one case literally so. But the drama of it all offers consumers a challenging life lesson.
Pirelli has announced that it will revert to its 2012 construction P Zero Formula One tyres in time for the Hungarian grand prix. For this weekend’s German grand prix only it will provide teams with rear tyres constructed with Kevlar belts at the Nürburgring. Pirelli says the aim of this is to reduce the tyres’ susceptibility to cuts, while Kevlar has the advantage of reducing the working temperature of tyres by around 10 degrees Centigrade. The concern remains that this may alter the competitiveness of some teams’ cars. The reduced damage resistance and hotter running of the steel belt construction tyres are thought to have been two of the factors leading to the high profile tyre failures witnessed at Silverstone.
Bernie Ecclestone has given Pirelli the go-ahead for two three-day tyre tests during the 2013 season with a current F1 car – little over a week since an international tribunal reprimanded the tyre manufacturer and the Mercedes team for the way in which they conducted a previous 1,000km test. While the news follows the number of deflations that occurred at the British grand prix on the Sunday, the Formula One boss revealed the changes were made as a result of a meeting held on the Saturday between FIA president Jean Todt, Pirelli Motorsport director Paul Hembery and Ecclestone himself. Ecclestone also stated his opinion on talk of a driver boycott of the German grand prix if nothing is done to solve the tyre problems at Silverstone: "I don't think that will happen. I don't think it's something we need to address," he told the BBC.
Anyone predicting that Formula One’s tyre supplier Pirelli could settle in for a quieter end to the 2013 season had a rude awakening at the British grand prix. Three rear left tyre deflations in the first 15 laps decidedly different in character from the delaminations seen earlier in the season led to a lengthy safety car period. During these laps race marshals rushed to clear debris from all around the track, while FIA race director Charlie Whiting was reportedly on the verge of red-flagging the race on safety grounds. But the race continued to a highly compelling conclusion for a passionate crowd of over 110,000 after Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel rolled to a standstill on the home straight, an event that lifted the spirits of a partisan home crowd. They were denied a British victory, though home favourite Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton produced a season’s-best drive to claim fourth following his early tyre failure from first. Mark Webber also pushed the victorious Nico Rosberg close in the final stages, marking an apt last British grand prix for the popular, perennial nearly-man. The fans surrounding Tyres & Accessories near the home straight, who had been more than murmuring their discontent at Pirelli following the early tyre deflations, raised their voices to a crescendo as Hamilton and Webber improvised a tyre strategy to allow them to work their way through the grid.
Mercedes and Pirelli have been reprimanded for their roles in the controversial tyre test in Barcelona, which followed the pit stop-heavy action of the Spanish grand prix. BBC chief F1 writer Andrew Benson reports that the FIA found Mercedes to be in breach of Formula One rules and subsequently banned the team from taking part in this year’s young driver test at Silverstone on 17-19 July. The BBC reports that the FIA, Mercedes and Pirelli will share equally the costs of the investigation.
Mercedes and Pirelli are waiting for the FIA’s decision on whether any rules were broken during the controversial tyre test that took place in Barcelona in the week after the Spanish grand prix. Pirelli counsel Dominique Dumas contends that it cannot be subject to the FIA’s jurisdiction as it is a supplier, though the FIA has responded that Pirelli’s contract binds the tyre supplier by Formula One regulations.
During the second half of June, Silverstone is going to see a lot of Pirelli rubber laid down; while the Northamptonshire circuit will host Formula One’s British grand prix on 28-30 June, this coming weekend (15-16 June) will see the manufacturer take more than 500 tyres to the home of British motorsport. Pirelli Tyre UK motorsport operations manager Matthew Corby predicts that the triple-header of the Pirelli Ferrari Formula Classic, the Pirelli Ferrari Open and the Porsche Club Championship will make for a “flat out” weekend.
Before this weekend’s Canadian grand prix, the major F1 tyre story had been the FIA’s decision to make Mercedes and Pirelli appear before an international tribunal based on the suspicion that Mercedes’ use of its 2013 car in a 1,000km tyre test "may constitute a breach" of the series’ rules. Mercedes principal, Ross Brawn has told BBC Sport’s chief F1 analyst Eddie Jordan that "it was a Pirelli test. What we were seeking was privacy not secrecy.”
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