Just a few days until the thirteenth round of the 2017 Formula One season, the Italian Grand Prix, which will represent Pirelli’s home race. For the Grand Prix in Monza, Formula 1 racing’s official tyre supplier will bring the medium, soft and supersoft tyres, just as was the case last year. This selection has been chosen to provide the optimal balance between performance on the track known as the ‘temple of speed’, and durability to cope with the energy loads that those high speeds will put through them. In particular, with the latest cars, cornering speeds will be appreciably
higher in Parabolica and Lesmo. With Italy emerging from one of the hottest summers ever, temperatures could be high during the Italian Grand Prix weekend and as a result will increase demands on the tyres even further.
The Autodromo Nazionale Monza circuit from a tyre point of view:
– Monza is characterised by long straights: in theory, this could mean a lower gap time gain compared to other tracks, due to the extra drag of this year’s high-downforce cars.
– Monza is about longitudinal forces, acceleration and braking, rather than lateral.
– There are also some big kerbs that test the tyre’s structure with heavy impacts.
– While there is unlikely to be an increase in top speed in Curva Grande, entry speeds for Parabolica and Lesmo will be up to
30kph faster.
– Teams generally run very low downforce to maximise top speeds. This can make acceleration and braking tricky.
– A one-stop strategy won last year but at the same time two and three stop strategies were also seen.
– Monza is a circuit that rewards power, so the focus will be primarily on engine performance.
Pirelli’s racing manager Mario Isola comments on what to expect ahead of the 2017 Italian Grand Prix in terms of tyre management: “With the new generation of 2017 cars, we may see lower or similar top speeds to last year, but with more energy going through the tyres because of the extra downforce under the new regulations. This combination of speed and downforce defines the amount of work that the tyres have to do. The tyre choice has also been influenced by the risk of blistering at Monza, as there are plenty of braking areas in a straight line. This means that the cambered shoulder area of the tyre can easily overheat and so cause more blistering compared to other circuits. In the past Monza has given us many different types of weather, but following a very hot summer, it is reasonable to expect more high temperatures over the weekend. How this influences tyre behaviour is likely to be a focus of free practice as the teams examine different potential strategies.” – Mario Isola explained, as reported by Pirelli’s official website.
Monza minimun starting pressures (slicks):
23.0 psi (front) | 21.0 psi (rear)
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