New tires: Pirelli finds a compromise

Another twist in the Pirelli epic! After first mentioned the British Grand Prix (June 29-30) to change your tires, then that of Canada (June 7-9), the Italian manufacturer is going back and plans to put its new compounds in competition at Silverstone. “In Montreal, we will still have the 2013 tires”, confirms a spokesperson for the Italian manufacturer, contacted by AUTOhebdo.

To make the transition go better, the Italian company finally decided to proceed in two stages, offering all teams the opportunity to try the new compounds during free testing in Canada. “The regulations allow us to do this, so we will make our new tires available to all the teams (which are supposed to be a mix between those of 2012 and 2013, Editor's note) lth Friday morning. We hope to obtain their feedback and everyone's agreement to race the new tires in England. »

Refusing to make a link with the controversy over private tests carried out by Mercedes on Italian tires, the Pirelli spokesperson justifies this delay for a reason of “fairness”. ?It?s less good for us because we still risk seeing delaminations in Montreal, but better for the teams who didn?t all agree to change the tires. This is to prove to them that the changes are minimal and that it is only about security”she concludes.

With this news, Pirelli agrees with Eric Boullier, the main Lotus team, whose team could be one of the big losers from this tire change. “Let us call the concern to eliminate tire delamination safe. For the rest, we imposed our parameters: do not touch the shape of the tire, its stiffness, its character, its deformations”, he details in AUTOhebdo n°1911, available since this Wednesday on newsstands and in digital version. “What we also wanted to impose concerns procedure. There is no question of arriving at the Canadian Grand Prix with these new tires, which we know nothing about, without having tested them. Let's carry out serious comparative tests, let's grant the suspensions of the car, if necessary, and we will validate or not, according to our findings. Once this stage has been reached, we will have, or not, the new tires at Silverstone. » The tire war has only just begun, in short.

Find our decryption “The tire war is taking its toll” in the new issue of AUTOhebdo, 1911, available now in digital version on all platforms and on kiosks.