INDIA in F1

Tag: Pirelli

  • Pirelli presents its new motorsport season in Milan

    Milan, 23 January  2013: Pirelli’s 2013 motorsport season gets underway with the latest evolution of the company’s Formula One tyres – the third in three years – and the new 17-inch tyre for Superbikes: a fresh direction for the highest profile championship derived from road bikes. Also presented were the latest range of 2013 products for more than 250 other championships that Pirelli is involved in – fewer than half of which are a single-make tyre supply – taking place in more than 40 countries all over the world from America to the Far East, according to a Pirelli press release.

    The backdrop for the launch of Pirelli’s 2013 global motorsport activities was the company’s headquarters in the historic Bicocca district of Milan. For the occasion, Pirelli threw open the doors of its research and development laboratories to the international media. This is where the range of P Zero, Cinturato, Scorpion and Diablo competition tyres is designed and developed, as well as the home of the pilot Next Mirs facility: the most advanced robotised tyre production line in the world.

    Pirelli’s motorsport programmes and strategies were presented during an international press conference hosted by Marco Tronchetti Provera, Pirelli’s President and CEO, Chief Technical Officer Maurizio Boiocchi, Motorsport Director (Car) Paul Hembery and Motorsport Director (Bike) Giorgio Barbier.

    NEW SEASON, NEW TYRES FOR FORMULA ONE AND SUPERBIKES

    As is the case every year, Pirelli once more presents innovative new tyres for every motorsport category it is involved with for 2013, developed in accordance with the teams and the various governing bodies. The key innovations are centred around the top global championships for both cars and bikes.

    Formula One. The entire range of Formula One tyres undergoes a revolution this year. The P Zero slick tyres and wet Cinturato tyres feature new structures and softer compounds. The objective is to increase thermal degradation and ensure at least two pit stops for every grand prix, increasing overtaking opportunities and so helping to provide an even better show. All of the slick tyres have improved performance and are faster by up to 0.5 seconds per lap. The performance gap between the different compounds is also at least half a second, in order to enhance race strategy and differences in speeds during each race.

    The most visible change is to the hard compound P Zero, which as well as having a wider working range this year, changes colour and is now distinguished by orange markings on the sidewall (see separate article).

    Superbike.The constant process of intense work and innovation carried out by Pirelli for Superbikes, which began in 2004, continues this season for the 10th consecutive year: the longest single-tyre supply agreement in the history of motorsport. Last year, Pirelli developed and took to the track a total of 26 products for Superbikes.

    For 2013, the most far-reaching innovation from Pirelli for Superbikes is the move from 16.5 to 17-inch tyres, which has a profound effect on the overall performance of each bike. The new tyres were tried out by the riders for the first time during tests at the Aragon circuit in Spain last July. During this test, an improvement in times of up to 1.5 seconds per lap was recorded (see separate article).

    PARTNER OF ALL MAJOR TEAMS FROM PROTOTYPES TO SINGLE-SEATERS

    Pirelli’s involvement in motorsport goes beyond Formula One and Superbikes. Throughout the 2013 season, the Italian firm will be represented all over the world in a variety of different championships, both on the track and the road. In total, Pirelli is involved in 250 other diverse motorsport series (aside from Formula One and Superbikes) that require the design and production of more than 200 different types of tyre each year. Pirelli will supply around 720,000 tyres for all its motorsport activities this year, underlining its status as the tyre manufacturer that is most heavily involved in motorsport at both national and international level all over the world.

    Every weekend approximately 100 teams compete on Pirelli tyres, ranging from top names such as Aston Martin, Audi, BMW, Ducati, Ferrari, Honda, Lamborghini, Maserati, McLaren, Mercedes and Porsche to privateers, involving thousands of drivers and riders – many of which are backed by Pirelli through special development programmes. Just like Formula One and Superbikes, all these teams and drivers are assisted by Pirelli’s engineers and technicians: around a hundred dedicated people who go from track to track, weekend after weekend, to provide the best possible support for their teams and accumulate as much data as possible for Pirelli’s research headquarters in Milan. Pirelli’s Formula One team consists of 52 people, plus 11 for the GP2 and GP3 series. In Superbikes, support comes from 30 Pirelli personnel.

    BESPOKE TYRES FOR EVERY CATEGORY

    When it comes to cars, Pirelli supplies both single-seaters (such as F1, GP2 and GP3) as well as racing cars derived from their road-going equivalents, such as GT and rally (including historic rallying). Pirelli also supplies a number of the most prestigious one-make championships in the world, such as the Ferrari Challenge, Lamborghini Super Trofeo and Maserati Trofeo. This year Pirelli adds the most popular championship in South America to its sporting portfolio: Brazilian stock cars, with other top championships in North America being added to the programme next year.

    In motorbike racing, as well as Superbikes and all its associated classes, the other key championships are the World Motocross Championship and World Endurance Championship.

    For each of these series Pirelli develops bespoke tyres, coming up with innovative solutions every season that reflect the technical and regulatory evolutions in each discipline.

    GP2 – GP3. Alongside Formula One and Superbikes, Pirelli is involved in 250 competitions all over the world (112 bike championships and 138 car championships). The premier feeder series for Formula One are GP2 and GP3, also supplied by Pirelli. The new range of tyres for GP2 fits in with the changes that were introduced last year. In 2012 two compounds per race were used for the first time, just like Formula One, and this year virtually the entire range has been redesigned, making the tyres softer and faster. In particular, the young drivers will use a brand new medium, soft and supersoft.

    The most significant innovation for GP3 concerns the car, which goes from 280 to 450 horsepower. In order to cater for this significant power hike, Pirelli has created a brand new product (see separate article).

    BRAZILIAN STOCK CAR. Pirelli makes a spectacular return to top-level motorsport in Brazil this year. After a five-year absence, the Italian firm will once more be the exclusive supplier to the Brazilian Stock Car Championship: the most popular motorsport series in the country. The stock car tyres will be made utilising the same factory and production processes as used in Formula One, at Pirelli’s cutting-edge motorsport facility in Izmit, Turkey (see separate article).

    GT SERIES.This season will feature a new GT category: the GT Sprint Series, which will sit alongside the Blancpain Endurance Series. The championships are designed for prestige sports cars such as those made by Aston Martin, Audi, BMW, Corvette, Jaguar, McLaren and Porsche. These Ultra High Performance cars are Pirelli’s natural habitat, in which all the company’s technology learned from motorsport is invested (see separate article).

    LAMBORGHINI SUPERTROFEO. There are also some important innovations coming for the Lamborghini Super Trofeo, one of the principal one-make championships that Pirelli has supplied since the series started. As well as supplying the European and Asian championships, Pirelli will also equip the six American races introduced for this year (see separate article).

    SUPERSTOCK.Moving onto two wheels, as well as the Superbike and Supersport classes, Pirelli will also supply the Superstock 1000 and 600 categories in the United Kingdom, as well the Ducati 848 Challenge and Triumph Challenge (see separate article). 

    EIGHT RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT CENTRES PLUS THREE MOTORSPORT FACTORIES

    As well as the personnel on the ground, Pirelli’s motorsport campaign is supported by a team of 1000 people. These are made up of chemists, physicists and engineers working in research and development centres located in Germany, Brazil, Turkey and China, which complement Pirelli’s central research and development facility in Milan.

    Milan is the base for 400 engineers, 150 of which are dedicated exclusively to Formula One. This is where the physics and chemistry laboratories are located, which carry out tests on compounds and structures using cutting-edge techniques. Mathematical models simulate the reactions of each specification of compound combined with each structure, in all possible conditions of use.

    The competition compounds for cars are produced at the Settimo Torinese plant in Turin and Slatina in Romania, while the tyres are physically made at the Izmit factory in Turkey. Since 2007, this has been Pirelli’s dedicated motorsport facility.

    Radial bike tyres for competition use are made at Breuberg in Germany, while off-road bike tyres for competition use are produced at Gravitaì in Brazil.

    All the motorsport researchers, laboratories and production processes work in tandem with the production lines for road car and bike tyres in order to ensure consistent technology transfer from competition to the road. A number of well-known industry standards incorporated in Pirelli’s road car tyres have their origins in motorsport. These include low profile tyres and the internal belt that was developed for rallying.

    ends

    Pirelli (in pic: Cinturato Inter Greens) unveils 2013 strategy at Milan on Wednesday. A Pirelli photo.

  • Pirelli finishes successful first year at Brazilian Grand Prix

    Interlagos, November 27, 2011 – The new Pirelli P Zero Yellow soft compound seen in competition for the first time today will be combined with a new profile for 2012 to form the basis of next year’s medium tyres, now that the current season is over. All of the slick tyres apart from the supersoft compound will be brand new next year, making their debut at the first official test of 2012 next February in Spain.

    With the anticipated threat of rain eventually holding off, Red Bull Racing’s Mark Webber claimed his first win of a remarkable debut season for Pirelli at the final grand prix, using the new P Zero Yellow soft tyres and the P Zero White medium tyres.

    Webber took the lead on lap 29, after his team mate Sebastian Vettel lost time with a gearbox problem, having led from pole. Webber adopted a three-stop strategy, using three sets of soft tyres and one set of medium tyres to win the race by 16.9 seconds from his team mate. It was Webber’s seventh career victory, securing him third place in the final championship standings.

    A few isolated raindrops fell on the Interlagos paddock about an hour before the race started, but the grand prix got underway in dry conditions and temperatures of around 24 degrees. All 24 cars started on the P Zero Yellow soft tyres, giving them greater flexibility in their strategies in case of rain – which never materialised.

    McLaren’s Jenson Button was the first driver to switch to the medium tyre on lap 31, using a different strategy to his team mate Lewis Hamilton. The top four runners all adopted a three-stop strategy, with Ferrari driver Felipe Massa the highest-placed two-stopper in fifth, having run two stints on the soft tyre and one final stint on the medium.

    Button was the only driver to use the P Zero White medium for two stints, making his last stop on lap 52. The Englishman was able to push hard during his final stint, as he chased a top-three finish, which he claimed with nine laps to go: his eighth podium in nine races that cemented his runner-up place in the drivers’ championship.

    The fastest lap of the race was also set on the P Zero White medium tyre, by Mark Webber on the very final lap. It was Webber’s eighth fastest lap this year on Pirelli tyres.

    Pirelli’s motorsport director Paul Hembery commented: “This didn’t turn out to be the race that most people expected, with the predicted rain holding off. At the last race of the season there were a few mechanical issues for some cars, but our tyres were completely reliable – as they have been all year, with no structural failures – and we achieved our objective of having a performance gap of less than a second between the compounds, which should be the case next year as well. It’s been a season that has, if anything, exceeded our expectations – where we’ve seen the most overtaking in the history of the Formula One World Championship – and I’d like to take this opportunity to thank all of our team in Milan, Didcot and Izmit for their extraordinary work this season. They should all be proud of their achievements. I’d also like to thank all the teams and drivers for their unstinting support, advice and partnership.”

    Note: Migrated from old database in Nov 2021

  • Vettel becomes most successful season qualifier in F1 history: A Pirelli view

    Interlagos, November 26, 2011  –  Today was the first qualifying session for Pirelli’s new P Zero Yellow soft compound tyre, making its competition debut in Brazil, which will actually form the basis of the medium tyre in 2012. As well as the soft compound, the other nominated tyre for the Brazilian Grand Prix is the current P Zero White medium.

    Two-time world champion Sebastian Vettel used the Pirelli tyres to become the driver who has scored the most pole positions in one season. By claiming his 15th pole position at the 19th and last grand prix of the year, the Red Bull Racing driver beats the record established by Nigel Mansell that has stood since 1992.

    Qualifying got underway in ambient temperatures of 27 degrees centigrade with cloudy conditions, underlining the risk of rain that is frequently a feature of the Brazilian Grand Prix. In order to get in a lap as quickly as possible, most drivers headed straight out at the beginning of qualifying one, with both Red Bulls, both McLarens, Ferrari driver Fernando Alonso and Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg using the P Zero White mediums to get through to qualifying two. The sudden rush caused plenty of traffic on one of the shortest circuits of the year, adding to the challenge for the drivers.

    It was a similar story during qualifying two, but this time all the drivers went straight onto the P Zero Yellow soft tyres in order to maximise dry running, with rain clouds just two kilometres away. The top drivers completed just one run during qualifying two, in order to maintain as many fresh soft tyres as possible for the final session.

    Conditions remained dry for qualifying three, with different approaches from the top runners on the P Zero Yellow tyres. McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton and Rosberg both completed a slower lap to warm up the tyres followed by a fast lap, while the Red Bull Racing cars and McLaren’s Jenson Button were straight onto a quick lap.

    Vettel set a time of 1m12.268s on his first run and then beat his own benchmark during the second run with a time of 1m11.918s on the soft tyres. His team mate Mark Webber qualified second ahead of the two McLarens. Mercedes driver Michael Schumacher went out on the medium tyre but did not set a time.

    Vettel also went quickest during the final free practice session this morning, held in dry and warm conditions, with a time of 1m12.460s on the P Zero Yellow: fractionally ahead of McLaren driver Jenson Button.

    Pirelli’s motorsport director Paul Hembery commented: “It was interesting for us to see the performance of our new compound in qualifying conditions, and I’d like to congratulate Sebastian Vettel for breaking the record of the most number of poles in one season with a spectacular lap: I actually had a bet with one of my colleagues that somebody would get under the 1m12s mark today. After the threat of rain didn’t materialise, it turned out to be a reasonably straightforward qualifying, but most people are expecting a much more mixed up race tomorrow. That’s obviously going to have a huge impact on the strategy, so we may well see our P Zero Orange wet tyres and P Zero Blue intermediates making their final appearance of the year.”