Pirelli Head of F1 & Car Racing at Pirelli, Mario Isola, was recently interviewed by Italian media outlet Formula1.it as the Pirelli boss talked about some of the most highly-anticipated topics ahead of the 2022 Formula 1 season. Here is Mario Isola’s full interview for Formula1.it:
In a few days the celebrations for the 150th anniversary of the company’s foundation will begin, what does the future of this Italian excellence hold in the world and how important is Formula 1 for Pirelli?
Mario Isola: “After twelve years of continuous presence as a supplier, the importance of Formula 1 for Pirelli is something consolidated, it is an activity that allows us to develop technology, to look ahead. And that is what the company is doing, after 150 years it wants to be a modern company, oriented towards the future. We explained a bit what are the next steps of this 150-year-old start-up during the event that took place at the Milan theater on January 28. Pirelli is a company that strongly believes in motorsport, we supply more than 230 championships, talking about activities on four wheels. We are also very oriented towards sustainability, which is an extremely important topic to the whole group and to motorsport in particular, because motorsport has always been a technological driving force. Consequently these issues must be embraced and carried forward by motorsport in line with the company policies already in place for years, which are constantly studied, implemented with new principles, new production processes, more and more sustainable, devoted to reducing the use of energy, exploiting the renewable. In short, everything concerning the life cycle of the product is studied and perfected. So, we have a lot of work in focus and we continue to do so in this sense. I am happy to be part of this great family”.
You have been the face of Pirelli in Formula 1 for many years, what has been the path that has brought you this far and what do you recommend to young people who would like to work for Pirelli?
Mario Isola: “First of all, I’m a big fan of motorsport. I started following Formula 1 at the age of eleven, racing karts, going to the Grand Prix to cheer on my idols of the time. Then, I had the opportunity of joining Pirelli, however with a completely different role, since first I was hired as a test driver and then I moved on to design. I was studying mechanical engineering, so I had the opportunity to move within the company passing from designing road tires to racing. And then came the challenge of Formula 1 after about ten years that I was already in motorsport, an environment in which I made my debut at the end of 2000. Clearly F1 is a bit of an arrival point, the idea of all young people who want to work in motorsport. But there are many other championships that give great satisfaction. I have worked in GT, in Rally, I have followed many other activities. So young people don’t just think about F1, because in any case the technical challenge exists everywhere. Everyone depends on what they want to do, there are technical, communication, marketing, logistics roles. It is a business unit with many internal functions, there is room for everyone and for all the different passions that can bring a person closer to motorsport “.
Let’s move on to a few more technical questions. Have you estimated how much and if the new 18-inch tires will affect average lap times?
Mario Isola: “The car will be a few kilos heavier, it’ll go pretty close to 800 kilos. As for the tires, the 18-inch tires weigh the same as the 13-inch ones. The tire is a bit bigger in diameter, but it shrinks on the side, so the weigh is the same. What weighs the most is the rim, of course. The front rims weigh about 2.5 kilos, the rear rims about 3 kilos. So that means more than ten kilos in total. Then there are some modifications made to the cars that brought the weight of the car to rise. We know the weight effect, we do some calculations, also referring to the fuel loaded by the single-seaters, which can give a penalty in terms of lap time, then it depends on the track. The theme is that making a 2021-2022 comparison is not that simple. Because we have a weight effect, a downforce effect, an aerodynamic package that has been designed in a completely different way. This will probably be more efficient at high speed and less efficient at low speed, so the delta time on fast tracks will be lower than in 2021. On slower tracks or with low speed corners this delta should increase slightly. On the tire side, the grip level of the 18-inch is in line with the grip level of the 13-inch, so we have redesigned the whole product, in all compounds, with the idea of making them more resistant to overheating, with less degradation. with a wider working range, but without making it harder and without losing grip. Therefore, we have kept the same level of grip by changing the approach with which these compounds are designed, the ingredients basically. A new family of compounds will make its debut in the 2022 season, conceptually very different from previous years “.
Show your support for Scuderia Ferrari with official merchandise collection from Puma!
Is there a driver who has provided you with particularly useful feedback during testing with the new tires?
Mario Isola: “Difficult to say, because Formula 1 drivers are the best twenty drivers in the world. All of them have excellent characteristics, even as test drivers. There are more experienced drivers, who may even be able to give you feedback related to their experiences, to make some comparisons, to add elements related to something they remember. And there are younger drivers, very good, who can give you very accurate feedback on the development base we always have during testing. The opinions of both categories of drivers are important to us. Then, the Formula 1 car is a laboratory so full of sensors that we can see a lot of data, confirm what the drivers’ comments are, see if there are any discrepancies. I must say that with Formula 1 drivers it is difficult to find differences with what the sensors say. All this is positive, together with the fact that at the post season test in Abu Dhabi we re-checked the characteristics we had identified throughout our development process and we have confirmed them. This is important. We found ourselves with the mule cars, so not with the 2022 cars, but all the drivers on the track gave us feedback very much in line with what we had seen along the way. This confirmed the quality of the work done after more than a year of development “.
Last year on several occasions there was very little difference in lap times between one compound and the other. Could the new tires, created to have an even wider operating window, further reduce the gap between the compounds?
Mario Isola: “It is possible. Much depends on the choices that will be made at each Grand Prix. When you mentioned the proximity of performance between the medium compound and the soft compound it is because in some cases you have a medium compound that works very well and a soft compound that maybe on that particular circuit it is quite off. In some places, in certain corners, the soft suffers a little more than the medium compound, and this means that the lap time is very similar. Consider that in the target letter we have agreed for 2022 with the drivers, the teams and the FIA, the lap time delta, as a goal, is half a second between one compound and the next. So we are talking about compounds that are conceptually very close. Second, it can become a little more or a little less, depending on the length and characteristics of the track. Monza, for example, is a very long track, but the length is defined by many straights, where the compound does not have a difference of grip. In this case we might see a smaller delta. Like in Spielberg, where the lap is very short. Spa, on the other hand, is a circuit where the lap is very long and full of corners. It is clear that at Spielberg half a second can become three tenths, while at Spa it can become eight tenths. We give some general indications, which will inevitably vary according to the circuit “.
It was discussed for a while to remove the constraint of using two different compounds in the race. What is Pirelli’s position?
Mario Isola: “I believe that the obligation of the two compounds works well. Because, beyond the fact that the F1 2022 was designed to give the drivers more possibilities to push and have action on the track, the so-called close racing, the strategy is an interesting element of the race. The fact of having an obligation to use two compounds increases the possibility of seeing teams pushing on a different strategy. There was even talk of introducing the obligation to use all three compounds during the race, in so as to have two pit stops. In reality, it was later deduced, with the help of the teams, that this would lead to a general convergence of strategies. There are some constraints that help to have more variety, but if these constraints increase, it risks going in the opposite direction. So, at this moment, the obligation of the two compounds is working well and will be maintained. Honestly, I agree “.
In some circuits, the particular shape of the corners has caused many problems with the sealing of the tires, have specific changes to the regulation been discussed in this regard?
Mario Isola: “There is an ongoing discussion. Let’s say that the problem had arisen in Qatar, a new track, particular curbs, and therefore we had reported it as right that it should be. Curbs that we reviewed in a couple of corners in Abu Dhabi, generating a some discussion. The latter, however, are always positive if they are constructive. The theme of the tracks is even broader if we want, it is not easy to find a solution that satisfies everyone. But I think it is something we can discuss “.
Shall we close with a prediction for 2022?
Mario Isola: “Eh, very difficult to make a prediction. When there is such a radical regulatory change, different situations can arise. I say a banality, but that’s it. There are those who could interpret the new rules much better, obtaining a significant performance advantage over others. Or, vice versa, we could witness a hard-fought championship in which the teams are very close. Our goal would be the second, so as to have more competition. But we won’t know soon, because in the winter tests the teams typically hide, so we will not see real performances. We must have the patience to wait for the first race in Bahrain. We hope that more than two teams will fight for the victory. Last year was a beautiful championship. 2021 gave us a challenge on track between Hamilton and Verstappen which brought us back to the battles between Senna and Prost, Lauda and Hunt … This is what Formula 1 and all its fans need. We are working hard to obtain this result, the ingredients are all there, we just have to wait a few more weeks to see how it goes “.
Leave a Reply