Pirelli: More Tires in Barcelona, But Not for Everyone?

Fifth in the 2013 Chinese Grand Prix, Jenson Button had to show discipline to preserve his tires without succumbing to the temptation to attack too much or defend his position, in order to make the two-stop strategy devised by McLaren work: It was an unusual way of racing, it was a bit like being at Le Mans in an LMP2 car with LMP1s right behind you, but it worked.

If the strategy implemented by McLaren was primarily aimed at compensating the weaknesses of the MP4-28 by focusing on endurance, some regret that drivers are now more compelled to manage their tires rather than race: « No matter the fuel load you have in the car, if you’re fighting with other drivers, you’re in trouble. It’s no longer racing; you put the tires on and just try to make it to the finish, » lamented Mark Webber, this Sunday, in the columns of Autosport.

Same sentiment at Mercedes: We need to ask ourselves if it’s necessary for the tires to be so on the edge when everyone has to pit immediately after the start. It’s so complicated, especially for the spectators, says Niki Lauda, non-executive chairman of the German team, to the news agency APA. This is particularly evident during qualifications, where drivers are forced to anticipate their race strategy and therefore drive economically, as was the case for Jenson Button this weekend: In Q3, there was a car in the garages and two drivers driving like Morgan Freeman in Driving Miss Daisy: I was one of them.

“I don’t think it’s good for all drivers to be racing at 70% of their capacity for a large part of the race,” Christian Horner told the media present in Shanghai. “They want to push as hard as they can. They don’t want to drive conservatively. Pirelli is a very competent company, and I’m sure they will resolve this quickly.”

On the RTL airwaves, Niki Lauda became a harbinger of good news by stating that a decision had been made for the good of the discipline: « Pirelli has a plan. I can announce the good news: the situation will change starting from Barcelona. Afterwards, it will get better. It’s just that there is so much confusion. The tires need to last longer. » Thus, the Italian manufacturer would propose a new compound, harder than the hardest 2013 compounds, which could potentially shift the entire range offered by Pirelli, with the current Soft tires becoming Super Softs and so on.

However, for the time being, no announcement has been made by Pirelli regarding the introduction of a new, harder compound, even though the Milan-based company had already denied any plans to change its tires without the agreement of all the teams, which is far from being the case. Nevertheless, Pirelli has agreed to make some adjustments to allow for more on-track action, especially during free practice sessions. Currently, teams have 11 sets of tires at the start of the weekend, but Pirelli could allocate a twelfth set to teams fielding a rookie driver during Free Practice 1: “There have been discussions about additional tires in Free Practice 1,” explains Paul Hembery, Pirelli’s motorsport director. “In general, teams have requested a new product because they don’t run on Friday morning. There’s an hour and a half of practice and they only run during the last hour. One suggestion made by Bob Fernley, deputy team principal of Sahara Force India, was that if they could have a product allowing them to do more laps in Free Practice 1, they would be willing to run their reserve driver or young drivers aiming for Formula 1 and thus give them F1 experience. It’s something we’re happy to promote.”

However, contrary to Bernie Ecclestone’s claims in China that the deal was done, Pirelli still needs to receive approval from the teams and the FIA: « We can put this in place for Barcelona, but the details need to be decided by the teams and Charlie Whiting. » And Hembery added: « The teams still need to agree in detail on how these tires will be used. Some top teams won’t call on a young driver or their reserve, but the smaller teams really want us to do this. »

This system is reminiscent of the initiative taken in the mid-2000s to limit the number of cars per team to one for participation in Free Practice 1, except for teams fielding a rookie driver, a measure that notably allowed Sebastian Vettel to emerge with BMW. However, this will not meet the expectations of top teams and drivers regarding tire performance, a point where, again, some may not see their interest.