Pirelli: Mario Isola gives verdict on operating window of new 18-inch tires in 2022. Pirelli on operating window of new 18-inch tires.

“We weren’t able to get the tires up to temperature”, “Suddenly in Q3 we lost performance due to the temperature variations that affected the tires”. These statements by the team principals and the Formula 1 drivers were very common at the end of Qualifying when the result was not the one hoped for or what was legitimately expected after the free practice sessions, Q1 or Q2.

This is because the tire ‘window’ was very narrow and even a warm-up lap not performed in a perfect manner or penalized by traffic could be fatal in not having the tires warm at the right moemnt for the fast lap. In 2022 this will no longer be the case. Among the many advantages that 18-inch tires will bring, there will also be that of less degradation and less sensitivity to overheating, with obvious advantages in terms of the operating window: “The new tire is more ready, more reactive, better prepared for ‘racing’ thanks to the low profile. This is what the drivers say after testing them on prototype single-seaters, the ‘mule cars’. In the construction we followed the requests of Formula 1, they wanted tires with very different behavior: less overheating, controlled degradation, a wider operating window ”, explained Mario Isola, Pirelli’s Head of Car Racing, in a recent interview for Italian daily newspaper Corriere della Sera.

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All these factors should allow the drivers to push without worrying too much about the duration of the tires, with races that will see strategies with only one stop, two at the most. The task of increasing the show and the battles on the track was not delegated only to the new tires. The simulations on the expected aerodynamic disturbance for the cars chasing the competitors are promising: “The simulations say that the chaser loses only 10% of the downforce compared to more than 40% now. On paper, the difference is huge. But it is also true that the new tires will allow everyone to push, those in front and those behind. The real goal of Formula 1 is more action on the track, regardless of whether or not overtaking takes place, the important thing is that the drivers fight. Which is what people want, but we will find out at the first races ”, concluded Mario Isola. Pirelli underwent numerous tests with mule cars in 2021, imcluding with Ferrari drivers Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc at the start of the 2021 Formula 1 season.