Pirelli have denied they are intentionally introducing softer tyres in order to favour Ferrari next season, though the Italian company admits the tyres probably will favour the team, which has struggled to heat up the harder compound.
Pirelli is set to drop the hard compound for next year, whilst the medium compound will become the hardest tyre available. A softer compound will also be introduced, but Pirelli say this is to ensure the racing remains exciting with a return to three-stop races, which have stedily declined as the teams get the grips with the new rubber.
“When we go harder everyone says we are being conservative and the races are boring, so it is one of those no-win situations,” said Pirelli’s Paul Hembery in Brazil.
When asked if the decision to go softer next year was aimed at favouring a certain team, Ferrari, Hembery replied: “I think the team you are talking about, when we were in Korea with super softs and softs, still had some issues so that’s rubbish.
“We are doing it because we are trying to encourage more exciting racing and I think what we are doing is in the right direction to try to have the peak of performance much closer together between the tyres.
“The harder tyres to be more durable and the faster tyres to have a degradation so we will see a little bit more of that strategy we saw earlier in the season.”
