2022 was a season of big changes for Formula 1. In addition to the new ground-effect cars, 2022 was also marked by the debut of the 18-inch Pirelli tires. In a recent interview for f1ingenerale.com, Mario Isola, the Head of F1 & Car Racing of Pirelli talked about the most important changes regarding the compounds for the 2023 Formula 1 campaign.
In pre-season testing, some teams, including Red Bull, complained of problems with understeer. Have you talked about it and how did you solve this problem?
Mario Isola: “The subject of understeer is one of the issues we are working on for next season because last year when we did the tests with the mule cars, understeer had not emerged. It is a problem that has appeared with the new cars and the new aerodynamic packages. It’s not a Red Bull problem but it’s a balancing problem that all teams have, especially at low speeds. This is why we are designing a tire with a slightly stronger front for next year “.
In this regard, how will the 2023 tires be different from the current ones?
Mario Isola: “We will be making construction changes to make sure there is a better balance. In terms of compounds, we are thinking of having a C1 that has a little more grip and a C3 that is more centered between C3 and C4 “.
What is the drivers’ feedback on the 2022 tires after two thirds of the season?
Mario Isola: “The comments on the construction of the rear slick are very positive. They felt a big improvement in traction, with a compound that gives them support. There was much less surface warming which was what they complained about in the past years. This was the reason why when drivers tried to attack they lost grip and struggled to overtake. The truth is that the whole car-tire package works very well and in a different way. The past few years when you followed another car you lost about 50% of downforce, you started to slide, you overheated the tires and you lost grip. Today when you follow another car you don’t lose downforce. The compound is designed to be less sensitive to heating so you keep grip and you can attempt an overtake. This is the reason we have seen more action on the track, more cars that are close even on high speed corners. Something that was unthinkable until last year”.
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Compared to your predictions, how is the data collected on wear and thermal degradation?
Mario Isola: “I would say that there are some tracks on which we have gotten very close and others on which we are a little further away. Clearly these are all very difficult aspects to predict and finding correlations is not easy. We are analyzing all the data, both ours and from the teams such as the telemetry of each session. We have created a group of data scientists who analyze a lot of data to create multiple correlations that can be very useful for understanding how these aspects work. I would say that we are happy with the 2022 product and we are happy if we see some good races. Seeing so many teams that can fight for the win helps and for this reason I consider the debut of the 18 inches to be very positive. For next year, in addition to a stronger front, we have seen that there are some small changes to be made. It will not be a revolution, they will not be completely new tires because we want to keep the good quality that these compounds have ”.
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