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The Formula One
teams had their first impression of Pirelli’s latest grand prix tyres this
week, at the opening official Formula One test of the year at Jerez in
Spain. The tight and twisty 4.428-kilometre Spanish track tested most
aspects of Pirelli’s new range of 2013 tyres. This allowed the teams to
learn about the basic characteristics of the latest generation P Zero
products over four days and form a positive first impression. The teams now
move to Barcelona for the next official Formula One test from February
19-22.
Testing Quote:
Paul Hembery: “The four days spent at Jerez, with most teams running their
new cars, gave us all a good general impression of the characteristics of
our 2013 tyres on track, with completely new compounds and construction. It
seems that we are very much on the right road and the changes we wanted to
see are all there: the tyres are faster than their equivalents last year,
and they have a wider window of peak performance. Conditions at Jerez were
not ideal this year however, as it was an extremely abrasive track – the
most abrasive of all the circuits we visit all
year – and consequently it was hard to draw any proper conclusions, given
that the surface had actually become even more abrasive than last season. We
came away with plenty of data for the hard and medium tyres, very little for
the soft tyre and none for the supersoft. Now we look forward to the next
two test sessions at Barcelona, which will provide another very valuable
opportunity for the teams to extend their knowledge of this year’s tyres.”
Testing Facts:
- The teams are allocated 100 sets of tyres per car per year for testing
purposes. The teams concentrated on working their way through the different
compounds, in order to get an initial read about how the latest generation
of deliberately fast-wearing tyres from Pirelli interacted with their new
cars, both when new and used. Pirelli brought a total of 35 sets per car to
this test (20 chosen by Pirelli, 15 by each team).
- Ambient and track temperatures were cool, in the region of 15 degrees
centigrade average most days, which led to a risk of graining. This occurs
when a tyre slides if it is not up to temperature, and the friction against
the track surface creates a wave-like pattern of wear, known as graining.
This was mostly noted in the very cool conditions of the morning – sometimes
with temperatures of less than five degrees centigrade – and accentuated by
the abrasive surface.
- With the conditions and track layout at Jerez not really typical of
anywhere else this year, the time difference between the compounds is not
expected to be completely representative of the rest of the season.. |
