Isola: “The 1 F2022 cars will not be much slower than the 2021 single-seaters”

Winter is the ideal time to fill up on optimism among drivers and teams. Pirelli does not deviate from the rule through the voice of its competition manager, Mario Isola.

The Italian presented the lessons learned from testing 18-inch tires during a conference to mark the 150th anniversary of the trans firmalpine. “I would say that we have confirmed that the new product has the characteristics that had been requested of us by the FIA, namely less overheating of the carcass, and the possibility given to drivers to attack more, he rejoices.

Time for a well-earned rest… almost!

First, a little bit of post-season testing with @pirellisport's new 18-inch tires 😀#F1 🇦🇪 pic.twitter.com/agJ5mBfvmB

— Formula 1 (@F1) December 15, 2021

It was important to conduct these tests in Abu Dhabi because we also had to manage traffic on the track. This is something we weren't able to simulate during our tire development test where we had one car running on a circuit with up to two cars.", has followed Mario Isola.

On the issue of tire wear, another hot issue which has often prevented drivers from having fun behind the wheel, the Pirelli Competition Director calms things down. “It is difficult to make a prediction because we were using mules, so we have to wait for the actual performance of the new 2022 cars. »

But one of the major conclusions of these December 2021 tests concerns the difference in pace between the single-seaters of the previous year and the future 2022 cars. Ultimately, the performance gap would not be so immense...

Pirelli Head of F1 and Car Racing, @Mario_Isola, reveals test findings of the new 18-inch tires. Leaning toward road relevance, suppliers are aiming to be carbon neutral by 2030 – mirroring @F1's sustainability strategy.
 https://t.co/uuHkjgBu2P#F1 # Fit4F1 #F12022 #Pirelli

- Pirelli Motorsport (@pirellisport) January 20, 2022

“We have simulations from the teams, the simulations tell us that the new cars are not much slower compared to last year's cars. The 1 F2022 cars won't be much slower than the 2021 single-seaters.

At first we were talking about more than three seconds per lap; now it's half a second or a second, so if they start with just one second difference, that means that over the course of the season they will probably reach the same level of performance that we had in 2021.”

This change in lap times is reminiscent of the strong progress recorded in 2014, when V6 hybrid turbos were introduced in place of naturally aspirated V8s. At the start of the season, the single-seaters were slower than their big sisters, but the gap was closed by the following autumn, before quickly reversing the trend.

Finally, Pirelli works jointly with BBS, the sole supplier of rims, to better integrate the two elements in the wheel. “ We started in 2020 with them. We also carried out tests with the 18-inch tires mounted on BBS rims. It was a very useful approach to have this working group that met weekly to monitor the progress of the activity”