Pirelli hungry for 2014 F1 test schedule confirmation
Pirelli travels to the Hungaroring with the new mash-up tyre selection sampled by 2013 drivers at Silverstone’s Young Driver Test last week this weekend. Consisting of the 2013 compounds in the tread and the 2012 Kevlar-belted construction, Pirelli channelled its inner Thom Yorke, pronouncing there were no alarms and no surprises following the “reliable” testing of the ‘new’ tyres’ performance. Pirelli’s Motorsport director Paul Hembery was diplomatic following the Young Driver Test, opining that “everybody achieved their objectives” at Silverstone. Thanking the teams for their cooperation in running tyre tests as required by Pirelli, he said the tyres had run “reliably throughout the three days”, and maintained the hope that they would allow teams to use “an interesting mix of strategies for the races ahead”. Yet with teams already possessing “a lot of information about the shape and deformation of this tyre from the previous season,” according to Hembery, it seems likely that these new compromise tyres could reduce tactical malleability. That said, the Hungarian grand prix will allow some focus on tyre strategy, with limited overtaking opportunities and low average speeds, so perhaps there could be more to talk about from a tyre point of view than Tyrepress.com anticipates.