Mario Isola Archives

Busy season start for our engineers – Pirelli concludes wet tyre testing

Concluding the first 2025 test session for its next generation of rain tyres at Circuit Paul Ricard in France, Pirelli comments that it has acquired reams of data essential to its further development work. The focus of this joint testing with the McLaren F1 Team was the wet and intermediate tyres for the 2026 season, when the regulations will stipulate the same 18-inch rim diameter as the current ones, but with a slightly smaller width and external diameter on both the front and rear axles.

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31st January 2025/by Stephen

Pirelli honours procurement partners at Supplier Day

Company News

Sustainability, continuous innovation, competitiveness, and the quality of raw materials and services remain fundamental pillars for Pirelli, and these key themes took centre stage at the 2024 Pirelli Supplier Day. This annual event, organised by Pirelli for its global network of suppliers, took place on 10 October at the company’s Milan headquarters, where it was attended by Marco Tronchetti Provera, Pirelli’s Executive Vice President, and Andrea Casaluci, Chief Executive Officer.

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14th October 2024/by Stephen

Belgian grand prix – Pirelli hails ‘memorable race decided in extra time’

Motorsport

The result of the Belgian grand prix was decided long after the chequered flag, as Mercedes’ George Russell was disqualified for an underweight car handing teammate Lewis Hamilton victory, but that didn’t stop exclusive tyre supplier Pirelli hailing the race as “one of the best… of the past few years.” Mario Isola – Pirelli director of motorsport, said: “It’s been quite a while since Formula 1 has put on such a show and it’s unusual to see a race where the outcome is so uncertain, with the top three within just over a second of one another and the first six finishers, all of whom could legitimately claim to have aimed for the win or at least the podium, all finishing within under 10 seconds. It’s a shame the race result had to be changed but, as even Mercedes agreed, the rule regarding weight is very clear.”

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29th July 2024/by Andrew

Leclerc breaks Monaco jinx on Pirelli F1 tyres

Motorsport

Charles Leclerc shook off his Monaco jinx to win his home Monaco grand prix on Pirelli rubber, his first Formula 1 grand prix victory since the 2022 Austrian Grand Prix. Mario Isola – Pirelli director of motorsport, said, “First and foremost, congratulations to Charles Leclerc and to Scuderia Ferrari on their win. We can only begin to imagine what it means to Charles to have triumphed on the streets of the city where he grew up!”

28th May 2024/by Andrew

Pirelli: F1 teams ‘working hard’ to reduce overheating’ in new cars as Ferrari goes fastest

International News, Motorsport

Ferrari

Pirelli revealed that Formula 1’s teams worked hard on “adapting the new cars to the tyres” in the final pre-season Formula 1 test in Bahrain, focusing on the prevention of overheating. 19 drivers from all the teams completed several long runs, supplying plenty of data to analyse in preparation the 2024, which commences on 29 February at the same circuit. Pirelli said the information gathered from the test is very important, especially to confirm if the aerodynamic load simulations provided by the teams over the winter break have been correlated in reality on track.

26th February 2024/by Andrew

Pirelli extends F1 in Schools partnership to Italy

Company News, International News

F1 in Schools is an international STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) competition for school students in which teams work together to design a miniature, compressed air-powered F1 car. The programme originated in the UK a quarter century ago and currently operates in more than 40 countries. Pirelli is a partner of the UK competition and has now announced becoming an Official Partner of F1 in Schools Italy.

15th February 2024/by Stephen

Silverstone debut for Pirelli slick with ‘2024’ materials

Motorsport

The FIA has approved Pirelli Motorsport’s request under article 10.8.3 of the Formula 1 technical regulations to introduce a new specification of slick tyre. Pirelli will first provide this new tyre for the British Grand Prix, which takes place at Silverstone from 7 to 9 July.

15th May 2023/by Stephen

Pirelli to bring softest F1 compound to Monaco

Motorsport

Pirelli

Exclusive Formula 1 tyre supplier Pirelli will supply the teams with its softest compound P Zero tyres for the first time since the Australian grand prix when the series visits the streets of Monaco. The C5 compound, alongside the C4 and C3, will be available one weekend after the hardest tyres in its range were selected for the Spanish Grand Prix. The compounds will be designated as P Zero White hard (C3), P Zero Yellow medium (C4), and P Zero Red soft (C5).

24th May 2022/by Andrew

Pirelli presents 2022 motorsport plans

Company News, Motorsport

Technology, sustainability and support for young talent – Pirelli states that these are the three cornerstones of its 2022 motorsport campaign. During a live-streamed press conference hosted by Mario Isola, the tyre maker’s head of motorsport, supported by rally activity manager Terenzio Testoni and GT circuit activity manager Matteo Braga, Pirelli set out its plans and priorities for the year.

19th January 2022/by Stephen

F1 2021 season’s controversial end decided on Pirelli soft tyres

Motorsport

Max Verstappen and Red Bull used a fresher but used Pirelli P Zero soft tyre to overcome Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes on a 43-lap old hard tyre in a single lap showdown to win the Formula One Drivers Championship. The controversy about how F1 contrived to supply this conclusion to the 2021 season at Yas Marina continues to rage. The intense coverage beyond the usual race weekend press generated by the controversy builds upon a season in which F1 has considerably refreshed its profile; it has gained improved global interest via the Netflix documentary Drive to Survive, a roster of drivers invigorated by some new faces, and a schedule expanding outside its traditional European base. Exclusive tyre supplier Pirelli’s head of F1 and car racing Mario Isola said: “It’s been an absolutely incredible season with some of the most intense competition we can remember: a fitting way to close the chapter on 13-inch tyres before starting a new one with 18 inches.”

13th December 2021/by Andrew

End of an era: F1 farewelling 13” tyres this weekend

Motorsport

The Abu Dhabi Grand Prix at Yas Marina this weekend will be the last race in Formula 1 history run on 13-inch tyres. After more than half a century of racing on this tyre size, Pirelli is introducing its new 18-inch tyres in 2022. To celebrate the changing of the guard, all the 13-inch slick tyres used in Abu Dhabi will carry a special logo on the sidewall: ’Next year I turn 18’ – underlining the switch to 18 inches by bidding farewell to the current tyres before welcoming the new size next year.

9th December 2021/by Stephen

F1 chief Domenicali visits Pirelli’s Circuito Panamericano

Company News, Motorsport

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.

12th November 2021/by Stephen

Verstappen bests Hamilton in US strategic tyre duel

International News, Motorsport

Pirelli

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.”

25th October 2021/by Andrew

Pirelli finishes 18-inch F1 tyre development programme

Company News, Motorsport, Product News

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.

21st October 2021/by Andrew

Pirelli shares Baku tyre failure investigation results

Motorsport

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.

16th June 2021/by Stephen

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