Sainz: “We can attack harder with the new tires”
The 2022 regulatory revolution brought new tires for the single-seaters. The historic 13-inch ones are gone, making way for the 18-inch ones. Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz is already won over.
It was one of the questionings of this new regulatory era. The tires offered by Pirelli have changed and gone from the historical 13-inch ones to 18-inch ones. A change that doesn’t seem to have disappointed the drivers, on the contrary. Carlos Sainz, the Spanish driver for Ferrari, has validated these new tires. « I have already tested them a bit last year. I did three or four days of testing with these tires. They seem to be well suited to this new generation of cars and appear to allow you to attack a bit more. » appreciates the Spaniard.
« Compared to previous years, there is less overheating, less degradation. There is still degradation, it’s a tire that degrades and overheats, but it seems to me better in terms of magnitude. The work done by Pirelli last year and the development is starting to pay off.
» Sainz also mentioned a « larger gap between the different tire compounds, whereas in recent years the C2, C3, and C4 were quite close. This could reshuffle the deck and create bigger differences on the track.
The director of Pirelli, Mario Isola, qualified Sainz’s statements by saying that it was still too early to measure the true performance gap between tire levels or degradation. Some drivers, like Valtteri Bottas, have shown themselves to be quite optimistic about these new tires, while others are less enthusiastic. “The tire behavior seems quite similar to last year, they overheat and degrade,” commented Lance Stroll.
