Pirelli is trying to conduct track tests during the year. Quite rightly, we emphasize. They do this to understand if their products are valid. If they fully satisfy drivers and teams. After all, the importance of tires in F1 is crucial. Those who handle them better, both in qualifying and in the race, gain significant advantages for their car’s performance. But it’s not just that. Sometimes it rains on the circuits. Especially this year. So far, the current season has seen a lot of bad weather conditions.
For this reason, the Italian tire manufacturer has been trying out different solutions. The goal is to make handling on wet asphalt easier and, at the same time, try to make the cars’ movements less dangerous. That’s why, for example, there was a test regarding the splash guards at Silverstone. Although the data collected will be analyzed to refine the solution in the coming months, this remedy is still in its early stages.
What would further help the drivers is the development of a new tire compound. We’re talking about a wet construction that can act as an intermediate between the intermediate and full wet tires. A kind of bridge that can connect the two compounds. An alternative to simply waiting for the so-called crossover. At the same time, they are considering a wet tire that is much more effective than the one currently available.
F1/Pirelli: Nothing will change in 2023
Creating grip. Two words that F1 technicians keep in mind. Because in the end, grip is a crucial element for a car. It is important on dry surfaces, let alone when it’s raining. In such conditions, the current ground effect cars suffer quite a bit in generating downforce, which, if insufficient, along with aquaplaning effects, can lead to nasty incidents.
So Pirelli is racking their brains. They are working hard to explore an uncharted territory that could somehow help. Undoubtedly, within this context, there should be valuable support from the International Federation and F1 ownership (Liberty Media). It is necessary support that could change the way certain situations are managed, enhancing the much-debated spectacle, which usually, in these cases, suffers from a clear decline towards boredom.
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The situation of full wet tires is a delicate issue on which the drivers’ side director of the PGDA has spoken out firmly. George Russell is not entirely wrong in thinking that the blue-banded Pirelli tires are mainly used when the cars follow Bernd Mayländer under the Safety Car regime. As soon as the race direction gives the green light to start the action, when the track is drivable, within a few minutes, the pit lane becomes busy, with all the drivers heading to the pits to switch to intermediate tires. This scenario often leads to disorder, penalizing strategic choices related to timing.
If during past championships, the range of wet tires was wider, nowadays the types of full wet compounds have reduced to just one unit, unlike before when there were at least two usable tire options in changing track conditions. This characteristic means that wet tires offer insufficient performance in certain areas of the track, for example, in high-speed cornering sections where the tires suffer tremendously, and their performance falls short.
For the current championship, things will not change. Tight schedules and other issues imply an actual delay in properly addressing this important point. As a result, as spectators, every time rain appears in the second part of the 2023 racing campaign, we will be subject to endless trains of cars following the Safety Car. Alternatively, in a more drastic situation, we may be forced to spend dead time in front of the TV due to red flags.
F1/Pirelli: A double solution under consideration, but not simple
For the near future, Pirelli is studying a tire called “Intermediate Plus.” Its purpose is to maintain the characteristics of the green-banded compound, while also improving its suitability for wet conditions. To be clearer, the intent is to provide flexibility to cover a wider range, while still offering adequate visibility and guiding the drivers to the point of crossover on dry asphalt. All of this with the help of the splash guards, which should reduce the large amount of spray generated by the cars’ movement.
So, to summarize: “BMX-style fenders,” the current intermediate tire, and an “improved super intermediate and full wet.” All options that need to find a balance considering that the future absence of tire warmers, in a scenario that is already quite confusing, seems like an idea that isn’t too intelligent. On the contrary, it seems like an action to complicate matters even more in the name of untouchable environmental sustainability. A noble principle that is applied in F1 only where it suits, showing inconsistency in its presence, who knows why.
Then there is the performance issue. Although lap times have significantly decreased with the 2023 wet tires, the same goes for how easily the drivers bring the wet tires up to temperature. Nevertheless, the aforementioned headaches persist. The final consideration in the article, reading Mario Isola‘s words on the matter, reveals a certain concern from the Italian manufacturer as the governing bodies, FIA and Formula 1, do not seem to have given the appropriate interest to the issue at the moment.
Source: Alessandro Arcari for FUnoanalisitecnica.
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