Pirelli has outlined its plan to deal with the tyre failures which occured at the British Grand Prix at the weekend.
Whilst the Italian supplier is adamant its tyres are safe, it has responded to criticism and calls for change and will bring revised tyres to the German GP this weekend.
Pirelli will bring its evolution of the current tyre that was tested in Canada – which features a Kevlar belt rather than a steel one – to Germany.
“This represents the best match for the technical characteristics of the Nurburgring circuit,” read a statement. “In particular, the rear tyres that will be used at the German GP have a Kevlar construction that replaces the current steel structure and the re-introduction of the 2012 belt, to ensure maximum stability and roadholding.
“Given that these tyres are asymmetric as well, it will be strictly forbidden to swap them round. The front tyres, by contrast, will remain unaltered.”
With the upcoming Silverstone tyre test, Pirelli will allow teams to test a completely new specification of tyre which is a hybrid of the 2012 and 2013-spec tyres, which it hopes to introduce at the Hungarian round.
“The tyres that will be used for the Hungarian GP onwards will combine the characteristics of the 2012 tyres with the performance of the 2013 compounds. Essentially, the new tyres will have a structure, construction and belt identical to that of 2012, which ensured maximum performance and safety.
“The compounds will be the same as those used throughout 2013, which guaranteed faster lap times and a wider working range.
“This new specification, as agreed with the FIA, will be tested on-track together with the teams and their 2013 cars at Silverstone from 17-19 July in a session with the race drivers during the young driver test. These tests will contribute to the definitive development of the new range of tyres, giving teams the opportunity to carry out the appropriate set-up work on their cars.”
Pirelli’s motorsport director Paul Hembery expressed his sadness at the failures seen at Silverstone and reiterated his and the company’s belief that the tyres are safe.
“What happened at Silverstone was completely unexpected and it was the first time that anything like this has ever occurred in more than a century of Pirelli in motorsport.
“These incidents, which have upset us greatly, have stressed the urgency of the changes that we already suggested – which will be introduced during for free practice in Germany on Friday.
“We would like to acknowledge the willingness of the FIA, FOM teams, and drivers to act quickly to find an immediate solution to the problem. In particular, the adoption of winter tests, arranged with the FIA, that are more suitable for tyre development and the possibility of carrying out in-season testing will contribute to the realisation of tyres with increasingly improved standards of safety and performance.
“I’d like to re-emphasise the fact that the 2013 range of tyres, used in the correct way, is completely safe. What happened at Silverstone though has led us to ask for full access to real time tyre data to ensure the correct usage and development of tyres that have the sophistication we were asked to provide and extremely high performance that has lowered lap times by more than two seconds on average. While we wait for a change in the rules, we will introduce tyres that are easier to manage.”
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