Barcelona: The moment of truth
On the streets of Monte Carlo, Alpine joined Mercedes and Scuderia Ferrari in securing a podium finish this season, excluding sprints, in a 2023 Formula 1 championship dominated by Red Bull, which also witnessed the surprise performance of Aston Martin, currently second in the Constructors’ Championship thanks to Fernando Alonso’s outstanding form. Once again, the Maranello team failed to convert its available potential into points due to mistakes from the pit wall (resulting in a three-place grid penalty for Charles Leclerc in the worst possible weekend on the Formula 1 calendar) and the drivers (Carlos Sainz went off track at Mirabeau in the rain). The standings are harsh, and a reaction is needed from the Italian side in the next round of the season.
Important updates are expected on the Ferrari SF-23 at the upcoming weekend in Barcelona, but they won’t involve the front suspension, unlike the extensive revisions made to the Mercedes W14 since the Monaco weekend in the hope of delivering a more predictable car for Lewis Hamilton and George Russell.
New Pirelli tires, the words of Frederic Vasseur
According to rumors circulating in the Monaco paddock, teams and drivers could have the opportunity to start testing the new Pirelli tires during free practice sessions at the Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona. These tires will debut at the British Grand Prix at Silverstone, scheduled from July 7th to 9th. They are reinforced tires being experimented with for the 2024 F1 season.
As the cars are evolving and generating more and more aerodynamic load, the tires are subjected to increasingly heavier loads. During a press conference, Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur commented on the upcoming debut of the new Pirelli tires, saying, “It’s always difficult to make predictions. It could also be a turning point for us in terms of finding more consistency. We’ll see how the situation is after the tests.” – the French manager explained.
The words of Mario Isola
At Monaco, formulapassion.it had the opportunity to interview Pirelli’s Head of Motorsport, Mario Isola, who naturally addressed the topic of the introduction of these new reinforced tires in 2023. He explained:
Show your support for Scuderia Ferrari with official merchandise collection! Click here to enter the F1 online Store and shop securely! And also get your F1 tickets for every race with VIP hospitality and unparalleled insider access. Click here for the best offers to support Charles and Carlos from the track!
“The new tires will only differ in terms of a material in the structure. It’s a material that we started developing at the end of last year because the idea for 2024 is to debut a product that doesn’t require the use of tire warmers. This means that the pressure difference between a cold tire and a hot tire will be very high, around 9-10 psi difference. Therefore, we need to try to start with lower pressures so that they can stabilize at a more or less optimal value—not exactly optimal, but not too far from it. To achieve this, we have started studying new, innovative materials that are much more fatigue-resistant.” – Pirelli’s Head of Motorsport pointed out.
“In this transition from cold to hot, these materials are able to withstand much more. These materials have worked well, and in the development tests we have conducted, they have shown practically no difference in the drivability of the product. The balance and the driver’s feedback have remained the same. It won’t be exactly the structure we want to introduce in 2024, but it will be a step in the direction of the 2024 structure. When we saw post-Melbourne that the loads were already in line with the predictions that had been made for the end of 2023, we emphasized that as Pirelli, we could react to this situation by increasing the pressure. However, the higher we go, the further away we get from the optimal pressure for the current tires. Using this material can help us. Either we change the construction, or we increase the pressure to counteract the loads to which the tires are subjected.” – Mario Isola concluded.
Leave a Reply