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Pirelli brings
another splash of colour to Monte Carlo’s famous harbour this weekend with
the debut of the new supersoft tyres, known as the PZero Red. These tyres
are designed to be ideally suited to the tight and twisty streets of the
Principality, with the drivers having their first chance to try out the new
rubber tomorrow.
THE TRACK
The legendary Monaco circuit is 3340 metres long, with the 78-lap grand prix
witnessing the debut of Pirelli’s new PZero Red supersoft tyre to guarantee
maximum grip over the slippery asphalt, which is open to normal road traffic
in the evenings. This is just one of the factors that makes the grip level
so hard to predict.
Sainte Devote: The cars stand on the brakes for the first corner of the lap,
losing 160kph in 100 metres. The continuous heavy use of the brakes in
Monaco generate extremely high temperatures which are also felt in the
tyres, increasing the stress caused by heat on the tyre as a whole.
There is a big compression as the cars exit Casino Square that can
destabilize the car under braking.
The Loew’s hairpin, as it is still known, is the slowest corner of the
season, taken at just 47kph. Due to the low speed there is no aerodynamic
downforce, so the full steering lock means that the front-right tyre is
doing all the work when it comes to the change of direction. Tabac,
following the famous tunnel, is one of the hardest parts of the circuit with
a tight line and no escape road. The cars reach around 160kph here,
developing a lateral load of 3.31G. It’s another tight entry to the first
corner at the Swimming Pool complex. The cars hit the kerbs at more than
200kph, generating a lateral force of 3.65G.
The last part of the lap is vital for a clean run, where the drivers have to
thread their cars carefully between guardrails apply the brakes while
cornering at the same time. It’s back on the gas at Anthony Noghes and then
up through second and third gears to unleash the full power of the engine on
the start-finish straight for another lap…
THE HOSPITALITY
The Monaco Grand Prix adopts a different format to everywhere else, with
free practice taking place on Thursday and no running on Friday.
With the on-track action taking place one day earlier, this only increases
the pressure on all the teams to set up their hospitality facilities in
time, less than three days after leaving Barcelona, 400 kilometres to the
south of Monaco.
Pirelli is no exception, with the team’s new carbon black motorhome taking
shape at the end of the harbour. The motorhome made its debut at the Turkish
Grand Prix in early May, having been built from new in Germany since the
start of the year. The Pirelli motorhome is based on two expanding trailer
units, with a hospitality area in between. The left hand trailer unit
contains the engineers’ offices on the upper deck, plus an office for Mario
Isola, Pirelli’s Racing Manager. Downstairs there is storage and a fully
equipped kitchen, where Pirelli’s catering service can produce up to 150
meals daily, with a menu that ranges from lobster to pasta.
The right hand trailer unit contains the office of Paul Hembery – Pirelli’s
motorsport director – on the upper deck, plus a meeting room as well as the
PR and marketing office. Below there is security and IT, as well as more
storage.
The catering area can seat about 50 people at a time; with the table place
mats based on old Pirelli posters from the 1950 and 1960s that advertise the
company’s most famous products from the past such as the ‘Stelvio’ tyre. On
the walls there are photos from the Pirelli calendar over the years, and
even the lampshades are based on tyres.
It takes a team of four people less than 24 hours to put up the new
motorhome, which goes constantly from race to race during the European
season but is based at Pirelli’s Formula One facility in the United Kingdom
on the rare occasions it is not travelling.
About the only thing that the new Pirelli motorhome does not yet have is a
name – so please forward any suggestions to the Pirelli F1 media team. |
