Pirelli to trial tyre compound jump at F1 Belgian ...

Pirelli has introduced which tyre compounds might be accessible for all of the remaining rounds for the summer time break, with vital modifications for the British and Belgian Grands Prix.

Whereas the picks for the Pink Bull Ring and Hungaroring are the identical as final season (with the C3, C4 and C5 compounds taking the onerous, medium and mushy slots), Silverstone’s might be a step softer: C2, C3 and C4.

Given the occasions of 2013, when tyre failures disrupted the race and prompted Pirelli to revert to a earlier carcass spec, and 2020, when Silverstone was internet hosting back-to-back races and went a step softer for the second race resulting in a spate of tyre delaminations late on, this can be a daring step at a circuit with high-speed corners which are demanding.

However the alternative for Spa-Francorchamps is extra intriguing nonetheless.

After the opening rounds of the season panned out largely as one-stop races in dry circumstances, Pirelli floated the potential of having a spot between the chosen compounds so they don’t observe in sequence. Therefore in Belgium the medium and mushy would be the C3 and C4, as they have been final 12 months, however the onerous would be the C1 moderately than the C2.

The intention is to widen the efficiency differential between the onerous and medium decisions and put groups ready the place the doable outcomes of one-stop versus two-stop methods are much less clear-cut.

“In Silverstone, the problem might be to handle the medium, which for the previous two years truly served because the mushy,” mentioned Pirelli’s assertion.

“Whereas in Spa, which can be a dash occasion, these choosing the onerous, with the concept of stopping simply as soon as, must take into accounts the efficiency distinction that now separates the C1 from the C2, which was final 12 months’s onerous.”

Introducing the compound ‘step’ at a dash weekend is one other aspect Pirelli sees as producing intrigue as a result of it provides additional problems to tyre alternative. However the focus stays on the grand prix – not essentially pushing groups in the direction of a two-stop technique, since that may possible lead to most of them converging, however offering onerous decisions between one and two.

“They [teams] at all times discover a option to apply a technique on one cease,” Pirelli motorsport supervisor Mario Isola mentioned throughout the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix weekend.

“It’s not that we’re attempting to push them to have a two-stop technique as a result of it is higher, it is extra motion, extra unpredictability and higher races – however with the three compounds which are so shut they at all times attempt to use the onerous and the medium to maneuver to a one-stop.”

The idea behind making the onerous compound tougher is that this makes a one-stop race doubtlessly slower – the onerous is extra resilient, so the drivers can doubtlessly push extra on it, however it is going to nonetheless be slower than a rival utilizing a soft-medium-medium two-stopper. However this has required extra simulations primarily based on efficiency information from the opening rounds as a result of the variations between compounds should match into a transparent ‘window’.

Too small a distinction between onerous and medium, and the one-stop stays the de facto alternative. Too massive and the one-stop turns into untenable.

Because of this the Belgian Grand Prix weekend is, in impact, a sensible check of Pirelli’s idea.