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Hot and Humid: Pirelli faces the
most challenging conditions yet
WHAT’S THE STORY?
 Following a successful debut in Australia, characterised by plenty of
on-track action and a wide variety of race strategies, Pirelli heads next
weekend to the Malaysian Grand Prix: a completely different type of
challenge. The Sepang circuit is one of the hottest and certainly the most
humid venue of the year, with temperatures in the region of 35 degrees
centigrade and 80% humidity. The track is demanding on the tyres due to its
aggressive surface, heavy braking areas, long straights and wide variety of
speeds and corners.
Once again Pirelli has nominated the hard and soft compound PZero tyres as
the prime and option rubber respectively for Malaysia, as was the case in
Australia last weekend. But the ever-present humidity in Malaysia makes rain
almost inevitable at some point over the weekend. In 2009, the race had to
be red-flagged after 31 laps due to torrential rain, while last year a
number of drivers were caught out by a downpour during qualifying. This
means that Pirelli’s intermediate and wet tyres stand a strong chance of
making their competitive debut at Sepang.
During the two free practice sessions on Friday, Pirelli will be providing
an extra two sets of dry-weather tyres for the teams to assess. The new tyre
is an experimental hard compound that could be used in the future, in
keeping with Pirelli’s philosophy of combining entertainment with
cutting-edge technology. The tyre allocation for the rest of the weekend,
from Saturday onwards, is not affected.
PIRELLI’S MOTORSPORT DIRECTOR SAYS:
Paul Hembery: “We were absolutely thrilled by our grand prix debut in
Australia, but we’re aware that Malaysia should be a very different
proposition, with higher temperatures and increased degradation. We said all
along that we would be seeing two to three pit stops in Australia, but in
Malaysia I think that figure is likely to increase to three to four. They
say that it’s never a question of if it rains at Sepang but when, so the
performance of our wet tyres could be crucial this weekend and we’re
certainly looking forward to seeing them out on track. We never believe in
standing still at Pirelli, which is why the teams will have two extra sets
of slick tyres available to them during Friday’s free practice sessions for
evaluation purposes. With testing not allowed during the season, this gives
us a valuable opportunity to gather more data and feedback, while it also
gives the teams an interesting taste of what could be coming in the future.”
THE MEN BEHIND THE STEERING WHEEL SAY:
Jenson Button (McLaren): “The tyres will be the same in Malaysia as they
were in Australia: the hard and the soft compounds. But Sepang will be much
hotter, with much higher track temperatures, maybe as much as 45 degrees
centigrade, and the track surface is very abrasive, particularly in
comparison to Albert Park, which is very smooth.
Sepang really requires a lot of high-speed stability from the tyre. So all
of these factors will make the tyre situation a bit trickier – I think we’ll
see higher degradation and more pit stops. It’s a highly abrasive track, so
the fronts and rears will suffer. In terms of overall wear and durability
across all the tracks we visit this year, Sepang probably sits somewhere in
the middle.”
TECHNICAL NOTES AND TYRE CHOICES SO FAR:
* The Sepang circuit, located south of the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur,
hosted its first Formula One race in 1999 and has remained on the calendar
ever since.
* There are eight right-hand and five left-hand corners on the
5.543-kilometre layout. With 56 laps scheduled the total distance is 310.408
kilometres.
* Michael Schumacher holds the record for the most number of Malaysian Grand
Prix wins with three victories. The German also tops the list pole sitters
with five fastest qualifying laps to his name.
* The highest number of pit stops in the history of the Malaysian Grand Prix
was in 2004. There were a total of 56 stops, the equivalent of 2.8 pit stops
per driver. In 2009 there were 50 pit stops in the space of just 30 laps
before the race was red-flagged.
PIRELLI IN MALAYSIA:
* Pirelli has had a presence in Malaysia for more than 30 years, via its
Singapore base.
* Pirelli tyres were winning in Malaysia through supporting the Motor Image
Racing Team in the Asia Pacific Rally Championship from 2007-2009. |
