Pirelli explains "compromise" needed for F1 "revolution"

Pirelli

Pirelli explains "compromise" needed for F1 "revolution"

F1 will race using 18-inch tyres next year

Sam Hall & Ian Parkes

Wednesday 25 August 2021 15:26

Pirelli motorsports boss Mario Isola is "very excited" to be part of the Formula 1 "revolution" in 2022 with the sport changing from 13-inch to 18-inch tyres.

The Italian manufacturer will, however, seek to make 'compromises' in order to balance the need for on-track action with the requests of drivers and teams for tyres that allow flat-out attack.

F1 will combine the radically new aerodynamic regulations with 18-inch, lower-profile Pirelli tyres.

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The larger wheels have been in use in F2 since the beginning of 2020 with F1 teams also testing the configuration with mule cars this season.

"I'm very excited because I believe that the new car looks very good," Isola told GPFans Global. "The target to have close racing is the right one.

"We had a lot of discussions in the various sporting committee meetings about this approach, that is not just about overtaking, but having close racing, having action on track and making those overtaking moves more difficult but also possible because if overtaking is too easy it's not exactly what the fans want to see.

"They want to see close racing.

"All the package has been designed to achieve this target. Obviously, we are also happy next year to continue our development in order to fine-tune the product for 2023.

"Next year, we will have the real cars for testing and so it will be important to continue and to keep the 25 days of testing that we have in our allocation to target further development for 2023."

Pirelli has always attempted to provide F1 with tyres that will yield specific results on track with increased levels of degradation after an era where tyres could last entire race distances.

"We always said that since 2011 that we want to give to Formula 1 a tyre that is what they want," he explained.

"They in terms of the stakeholders and not just the teams. We have to talk to the FIA, we have to talk to FOM.

"Especially, we have to make drivers happy. That's the most important part of our job. Obviously, drivers want to push. They want grip, they want no degradation and they want to attack every lap.

"We need to find a bit of a compromise on that because if we want action on track and close racing, we need to consider a bit of degradation.

"We need to have compounds with a certain tyre life in order to encourage strategies with a different number of pit stops and so on and so on. It cannot be a tyre that is just designed for one specific group of people.

"But I believe that we came, with the last version of the target letter, to a sensible solution, designing the target letter in a way that guaranteed what the drivers wanted on one side and on the other to keep a good show.

"It's not easy because sometimes these elements are one against the other. The trade-off is not always so easy to achieve.

"Now we have a bit of experience. We've had many discussions with all the stakeholders so hopefully next year it will be a great spectacle, a great show and I'm very excited to be part of this revolution, and for Formula 1 it is a revolution honestly."