Formula One official tyre supplier Pirelli has set new targets for its 2019 tyres: fewer compounds, bigger performance gaps between them and simplified compounds names. Asked by F1Technical.net regarding how the Milan-based tyre company could force teams to opt for a two-stop strategy, Mario Isola pointed at the difference between the one- and two-stop strategy which should be big enough to take the risk for completing more than one single stop.
“Honestly it is not easy because one possible solution is that we supply tyres where a two-stop strategy is a clear advantage over a one-stop strategy. At the moment, we are in a situation when a one-stopper and a two-stopper are very close, let’s say less than five seconds in total race time difference. Everybody tries to manage degradation in order to reach one stop. To try to encourage teams to go for two stops, there should (be) a clear advantage on a two-stop strategy. But, again, it is important to understand how much we can increase degradation. It is not very easy, we need to work together with the teams (to see) what we can do to have more pit stops. The question is whether a two-stop (strategy) is really improving the show or not.” – Mario Isola explained, as reported earlier today by F1Technical.net.
On a few occasions, Pirelli has decided to go for an aggressive tyre selection. In China and Germany, their three-compound tyre selection saw a jump between two adjacent compounds. Isola thinks this may not be the best way to spice the show up because the leading teams can trick that out with competing in the second qualifying session on the harder compound thanks to their pace advantage.
New constructions for 2019
At the same time, Pirelli has been hard working on new compounds for the 2019 championship. Asked what targets Pirelli has set with the new products, Mario Isola revealed that the company wants bigger delta of approximately one second between adjacent compounds. He also added that Pirelli has to follow FIA’s requirements: “We develop a new construction that is working better. We learn every weekend something. We are developing new compounds with a bigger delta. Soft, supersoft and ultrasoft are very close and we have a bigger delta between ultra and hyper. The target for next year is to have new compounds with better delta, with different level of degradation.” – Pirelli’s Head of Car Racing concluded.
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