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F1: Pirelli's ideas for future improvements

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Khatir Soltani
From GMM

Pirelli has many ideas about how to maximise its involvement in F1 as the sport's official tire supplier.

That is the claim of the Italian marque's British motor sport director Paul Hembery, who spoke to Auto Motor und Sport at Valencia, the eighth race since Pirelli took over from the now departed Bridgestone.

He said the first idea is about the supply of wet-weather tires.

"If the first two practice sessions are wet, then we need an additional set of intermediates for the rest of the weekend. We have agreed that this should come in to the regulations for next year," said Hembery.

As for the basic construction and compounds, he said Pirelli is fairly happy even though the target is "two to three pitstops per car" rather than four as has been seen on occasion this season.

"We wanted to wait for the mid season. After Silverstone we will get together and show the teams a few things," he said.

Hembery said the plan is then to make significantly faster tires in 2013.

"The aerodynamics will be reduced so we want to give the teams a little boost on the laptime," he revealed.

"There are many things. Maybe we will increase the number of different tires; maybe we'll bring three compounds to a race, maybe with a total of six to choose from.

"I don't know yet. There are lots of ideas," said Hembery.

Another idea is for a "super sticky" qualifying tire that lasts for only one lap.

"In the end for something like that the decision is with the teams. They might say no," he explained.


Khatir Soltani
Khatir Soltani
Automotive expert
  • Over 6 years experience as a car reviewer
  • Over 50 test drives in the last year
  • Involved in discussions with virtually every auto manufacturer in Canada