Pirelli willing to change for Formula One

Since Pirelli’s return to Formula One their tyre compounds have proven to be quite controversial.

The Italian tyre manufacturer has been working to a brief set by Formula One, to make the racing more exciting, by re-introducing tyre strategy to F1 racing.

This has been the brief since their return to the sport in 2011.

During the early days the tyres seemed to be like a lottery, the Pirelli’s would work very well during a specific working window and if the teams and drivers couldn’t get the tyre to work to its optimum then they would be severely punished.

This led to a number of surprise results, no more so than Pastor Maldonado’s maiden win for Williams in 2012.

Tyre degradation has also been key to teams and drivers and those who do not work the tyres quite so much usually get the benefit.

This led towards high profile complaints including from Seven time F1 World champion Michael Schumacher, who speaking after Bahrain 2012 race said that Pirelli have created racing that doesn’t allow a driver to race at the limits of the drivers ability or car.

This opinion has been one that has been shared by many within the paddock for a number of years and whilst the Pirelli tyres are now far more predictable than that of their earlier years, races still see segments of lift and coast where the drivers manage their tyres more than their car.

Many drivers would like to see a return to more durable tyres, giving the drivers more of a chance to race flat out for longer in Grand Prix.

Pirelli are open to the idea, but have stated that they need help in testing and developing a new type of tyre if it were to be ready for 2017.

‘As we’ve always said, we want to follow what F1 asks us. This is another aspect of the target of development we have for the future.

‘It’s a choice. If we have to produce long-lasting tyres, we need to focus on that. If we have to produce tyres with degradation, we have to focus on that. We have more than 180 championships where we have different targets. Pirelli’s racing manager Mario Isola said to Motorsport.com.

‘In GP2 there is a strong requirement for degradation because the promoter wants to have something similar to Formula 1. In GT, they want to a tyre to do double stints.

‘In rally they have different requirements, so it depends on the championship.’