Pirelli bets on audacity: Mario Isola justifies his choices to revive the F1 show
In the face of persistent criticism about the lack of strategy and spectacle in racing, Mario Isola, Director of Pirelli Motorsport, defended the directions taken by the Italian manufacturer. At the pre-Grand Prix press conference in Spain, he endorsed more aggressive tyre choices and a philosophy geared towards encouraging multiple stops.
While the C6 compound, the softest in Pirelli’s range, makes its first appearances this season, Isola has given a mixed but promising initial assessment: “We have received mixed feedback from the teams. The compound is quite similar to the C5. Ideally, I would like to see a more aggressive C6 in the future, different from the current one.”
This tire, still in the full-scale testing phase, should provide more information in Montreal, the next round of the season, where its behavior will be analyzed in detail.
Pirelli admits: time was lacking to develop the C6. But the intention is clear: to offer teams a more friable alternative, capable of breaking the one-stop fixed strategies.
Spa and Silverstone as testing grounds
Isola also revealed notable adjustments to the tire selections until the summer break, particularly in Belgium: « At Spa, instead of C2, C3, and C4, we will go with C1, C3, and C4. This means that between C1 and C3, the hard and the medium, there is a much larger delta. »
Objective: force teams to choose between performance and conservatism. The more daring ones will try two stops by betting on C3 and C4, while the more cautious will opt for a slower strategy on C1-C3.
Silverstone, another circuit with high degradation, will also see a change with a softer selection than expected. « We need to be a bit more aggressive or find a way to encourage teams to adopt a two-stop strategy », explained Isola, highlighting the importance of promoting strategic variety.
Monaco, symptom of a deeper problem
When asked about the attempt to impose two stops in Monaco, Isola was clear-sighted: « You can go to Monaco with C1, C5, C6, whatever you want, it doesn’t change anything because the leading driver simply manages their tires until the end. »
He nonetheless defends the idea behind the experiment: « It was probably not perfect, but it was a good attempt to do something different. » A relative failure, therefore, but one that reveals the structural deadlock of the princely path.
« The only way was to try to create unpredictability with a pit stop », he added. A strategy that did not convince Flavio Briatore, who described the idea as « very bad », and Christian Horner concluded: « It’s not the tires that are the problem. It’s the circuit. The cars are too big, and the track is too small. »
Pirelli balancing between sport and spectacle
At the end of the conference, Isola emphasized the rigorous method of selecting tires, based on precise simulations: « We conduct simulations to understand how many strategies are possible with different compound selections. »
The desire to increase tactical options, and thus the suspense in the race, drives every decision. If the teams want to be aggressive, they must use C3 and C4 with two stops. If they want to be conservative, they use C1 and C3, but that means they are slower, he explained.
With conscious choices, listening to the teams, and a desire to renew the spectacle without betraying performance, Mario Isola sets his course: that of a manufacturer who no longer wants to settle for all-purpose tires.
