Formula 1 tyre supplier Pirelli has tweaked its approach for the 2019 season regarding the Intermediate and Wet compounds.
In 2018 Pirelli had two variations of both the Intermediate and Wet tyre available in order to cope with the different demands placed upon the rubber.
But for 2019 it has decided to alter its approach, widening the working range of the Intermediate, while making the Wet compound more resistant to aquaplaning.
“Last year if you remember we had two compounds for Intermediate and two for the Wet,” explained Pirelli chief Mario Isola.
“One [of each Intermediate and Wets] was soft, designed for cold conditions or smooth tarmac, so less severe circuits.
“We have now a new compound for the Intermediate with a wider working range in order to guarantee [crossover] towards the slicks and [towards the] wet.
“The Wet tyre has a new compound but also a new construction, I would say a new profile, especially in the front, that is designed to better resist to aquaplaning.
“So the idea was not to move the Wet tyre towards the heavy rain condition but to have better driveability in heavy rain conditions for the Wet tyre.
“That means that we had to move also the Intermediate to guarantee the crossover for the Wet, but also keep the same crossover for Intermediate and slick, and that’s what we do with the new Intermediate compound.
“The Wet is a new tyre, both construction and compound, with a different working range that is able to switch on at a low track temperature. That’s why we decided to eliminate a soft version of the two tyres.”
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