Mario Isola: “No problem keeping the 2019 tires”

Sensing the upcoming sanction vote from the teams on the 2020 tires, the Italian manager regretted seeing a year of development potentially go up in smoke during our interview in Abu Dhabi. But already assured that the products used this season would do the job on next year's single-seaters.

Published on 27/12/2019 à 11:01

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Mario Isola: “No problem keeping the 2019 tires”

Did the campaign that just concluded meet your expectations?

Yes, because we designed the 2019 tires to improve some of the effects identified the previous season. In 2018 we opted for more aggressive compounds, but as a result the riders had to manage the tires even more. They complained of overheating and increased degradation. What's more, we observed a phenomenon of blisters on the rubber during certain races. The 2019 tire aimed to be more resistant, less prone to bubbling and to offer a reduced number of compounds from 7 to 5, but which would be separated by larger time gaps.

The result met our expectations. We saw almost no blisters during the season. The three compounds selected for each weekend were often all used, and we saw a variety of strategies. The pilots were also able to attack more. Afterwards, we can always do better.