The governing body of world motorsport has awarded Pirelli’s motorsport division three stars as part of its Environmental Accreditation Programme. This is the highest score that the FIA awards within the programme and gives only to participants who have demonstrated the best environmental standards in a series of measures.
Pirelli has welcomed the president and chief executive officer of Formula 1 to Circuito Panamericano, the tyre maker’s most advanced proving ground. Stefano Domenicali is currently visiting the region to attend this weekend’s Brazilian Grand Prix, and during yesterday’s tour of the facility was accompanied by Mario Isola, Pirelli’s head of F1 and Car Racing, and Cesar Martin Alarcon, Pirelli’s chief executive officer and executive vice-president of the LatAm region.
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen opened up a 12-point gap at the top of the Formula 1 Drivers Championship after an intensely tactical two-stop race against Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton at Circuit of the Americas, Austin, Texas. Verstappen switched from the Pirelli P Zero Yellow medium tyre to the P Zero White hard tyre on lap 11, with a successful ‘undercut’ to gain the lead from his rival, who stopped three laps later. Mario Isola – head of F1 and car racing at Pirelli said that the two drivers had used “exactly the same” pre-race tyre allocation in different ways to produce a “thrilling finale between two drivers absolutely on top of their game.”
Monday’s tyre test at France’s Paul Ricard circuit heralded the conclusion of Pirelli’s initial development programme for 18-inch Formula 1 tyres. Alpine’s Daniil Kvyat was in the seat for the wet test, finishing a programme disrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic. The flagship global motorsport series will switch to the new low-profile tyres in 2022, shifting away from the 13-inch tyres currently used. Pirelli calls this move a technical revolution and has devoted an intense period of research and development to the change, with indoor and outdoor testing. The manufacturer will now tweak the tyre based on 2022-specification car testing.
Hankook, the exclusive tyre partner of the all-woman W Series since its inaugural 2019 season, will travel to the Spa-Francorchamps circuit in Belgium to commence the second half of this year’s series. Featuring on the support programme for Formula 1, with which it shares the bill on eight grand prix weekends, the W Series runs on Hankook high-end Ventus Race tyre.
Narain Karthikeyan, who in 2005 became India’s first-ever Formula 1 driver, has signed on as a JK Tyre brand ambassador. Commenting on the arrangement, Raghupati Singhania said the tyre maker was “delighted” to have Karthikeyan represent the JK Tyre brand in India.
A major change to Formula 1 for the 2022 season will be the introduction of 18-inch tyres after half a century of wide sidewall tyres sitting on 13-inch rims. Pirelli is presenting the new tyres at Silverstone today and comments that “now it’s time to change to a more modern approach” with a dimension actually seen on today’s road cars.
The World Motor Sport Council convened during the 2021 FIA Conference on 8 July, and amongst the decisions reached was approval for the introduction of the new rear tyre specification that Pirelli had tested during free practice at the Austrian Grand Prix on 2 July. Pirelli will thus bring the new tyres to the British Grand Prix at Silverstone this coming weekend.
Pirelli says the two tyres that failed during the Azerbaijan Grand Prix on 6 June did so because of a “circumferential break on the inner sidewall” that was “related to the running conditions of the tyre, in spite of the prescribed starting parameters (minimum pressure and maximum blanket temperature) having been followed.” But Max Verstappen isn’t satisfied.
With David Coulthard’s pull no punches words perhaps still ringing in their ears, this past week or so the Pirelli F1 team has looked into why two of their tyres were not boring at all during the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. Pirelli says it has, in conjunction with the FIA, completed an analysis and identified why the rear left tyres on the cars driven by Lance Stroll and Max Verstappen failed.
Formula 1 together with RM Sotheby’s have announced a very special, single lot auction of the 2010 McLaren Mercedes MP4-25A Formula 1 Race Car, (estimate: $5m-$7m) to take place at the Formula 1 Pirelli British Grand Prix 2021. The auction will take place on the Saturday afternoon of the race weekend, immediately prior to the first-ever Sprint Qualifying Race. In keeping with the series of firsts, this sale marks the first time any Lewis Hamilton F1 Race Car, let alone a Grand Prix winning car has ever been offered for public sale.
Following consultation and review between the FIA, Formula 1 and all ten teams, on 26 April the FIA Formula 1 Commission unanimously approved the adoption of a Sprint Qualifying at three Grands Prix during the 2021 FIA Formula One World Championship. These events will be held at two European and one non-European venue.
Restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic threw a spanner into the works of Pirelli’s plan to introduce 18-inch tyres for the 2021 Formula 1 season. To accommodate this delay, the FIA and Formula 1 have proposed that Pirelli extend its existing exclusive tyre supply contract by one further year. Pirelli has agreed to this.
Pirelli says it plans to undertake ten test sessions over 28 days this year. The sessions it is taking part in with nine Formula 1 teams will prepare them for the 2022 season and the introduction of 18-inch tyres and other technical regulations. Testing will be subject to any further restrictions related to the coronavirus pandemic.
Pirelli