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The Formula One
teams got their first taste of Pirelli’s 2013 tyres during free practice in
Brazil, with the Italian firm bringing two extra sets of prototype tyres in
addition to the usual allocation of P Zero Silver hard tyres and P Zero
White medium tyres that have been nominated for the weekend.
The teams used the 2013 prototype tyres mainly in the morning session, which
were distinguished by orange writing on the sidewalls. The prototype tyres
seen in Brazil have a different structure compared to the 2012 tyres, using
the current hard compound, but with a quicker warm-up time as well as
deliberately faster degradation.
Daniel Ricciardo (Toro Rosso), Vitaly Petrov (Caterham) and both HRTs were
the only drivers to use the prototype tyres at the start of the afternoon
session, which got underway in ambient temperatures of 32 degrees centigrade
and 46 degrees of track temperature. These unusually warm conditions are not
expected to last though: tomorrow should be much cooler for qualifying while
there is a 100% chance of rain on Sunday: a hallmark of the already
demanding Interlagos circuit, which places a lot of stress on the rear tyres
in particular due to its traction loads.
This gave all the teams – particularly the two championship protagonists –
an interesting dilemma: whether or not to concentrate on qualifying
performance, which will be in held in the dry tomorrow, or to work towards a
wet set-up that will be useful for the race.
All the remaining drivers used the hard tyre at the start of the second
session, which was also the only tyre apart from the new prototype used in
the first session. Toro Rosso’s Jean-Eric Vergne was the first driver to
switch to the medium tyres halfway through the session, followed
progressively by the rest of the field, with Lotus driver Romain Grosjean
being the first driver to go quickest on them. The fastest time of the day
was set by McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton with half an hour to go on the medium
tyre: 1m14.026s.
Hamilton – who has never led a lap in Brazil despite winning the 2008 title
at the Interlagos circuit – was fastest in the first free practice session
in the morning, with a time of 1m14.131s on the orange-marked prototype
tyre.
Pirelli’s motorsport director Paul Hembery said: “With testing
opportunities so limited in Formula One, we wanted to give teams the
opportunity to try out our tyres before the first official test in February
next year, so that they can start to understand how the new tyres interact
with the current cars. The initial feedback we received has been very
positive: the tyre that the teams tried today has a different structure with
a faster warm-up. This delivers extra performance within a wider working
range, due to increased cornering grip, which is exactly what we were aiming
for. When we combine the new structure with the new compounds for next year
we will see the full performance potential. As for this weekend, the high
temperatures that led to quite a significant degree of degradation today,
particularly on the rears, is not expected to last, so we are very likely to
see the Cinturato Green intermediates and Cinturato Blue full wets during
the race. We’re expecting at least a two-stop race, but if there is wet
weather or safety cars involved, then all that could change significantly.”
Pirelli numbers of the day:
Sets used overall:
Hard: 86
Medium: 22
Intermediate: 0
Wet: 0
Longest runs per compound:
Hard: 37 (Kovalainen)
Medium: 19 (Hulkenberg)
Prototype: 38 (Petrov)
Intermediate: 0
Wet: 0
Pirelli facts of the day:
Pirelli will stay on in Brazil after the grand prix for the launch of the
iconic 2013 Pirelli calendar in Rio de Janeiro next week. Photographed in
Rio by Steve McCurry, the 2013 calendar features Brazilian model Adriana
Lima: the first model to be photographed while pregnant. Brazilian actress
Sonia Braga and singer Marisa Monte also appear in the calendar.
With Sebastian Vettel currently 13 points ahead of Fernando Alonso in the
drivers’ championship, Alonso has to finish on the podium to stand any
chance of taking the title, irrespective of where Vettel finishes. If Alonso
wins the race, then he can only take the title if Vettel finishes lower than
fourth. |
