Pirelli begins its second season in Melbourne

Having contributed to setting the fastest lap ever made at Albert Park during last year’s qualifying, Pirelli returns with a challenge to tackle in 2012. For its second season in Formula 1, the Italian company has focused even more firmly on race strategies, by reducing the performance gap between compounds and widening the optimal performance window of each tire.

This weekend, in Australia, the P Zero White medium tire has been selected alongside the P Zero Yellow soft compound. The difference between the two compounds is expected to be around six-tenths of a second per lap. As always, the Australian weather can be extremely variable, so the Cinturato Green intermediate and the Cinturato Blue (wet conditions) will also be available to cope with all types of weather.

New tire regulations have come into effect this year, stating that teams will have a total of 11 sets allocated from the first free practice session on Friday. This measure was introduced to encourage the cars to get the most out of the track from the start of the race weekend and to provide more action. Additionally, Pirelli has responded to the regulatory ban on blown diffusers by producing new tires that offer more rear grip than before. New color markings will also distinguish the tires to make their identification easier for (television) viewers.

Defending World Champion Sebastian Vettel will aim this season to become the third driver in F1 history to collect three consecutive world titles. The first to achieve this feat was the legendary Juan Manuel Fangio, who won his first title in 1951 on Pirelli tires.

Sebastian Vettel’s Perspective, Red Bull Racing Driver: This season, we arrive in Melbourne with the advantage of having already worked a year with Pirelli tires. For 2012, Pirelli has developed new tires with softer compounds and improved warm-up. After many winter tests on cool tracks in Spain, we will have a new challenge in much hotter conditions at Albert Park. The weekend always starts on a fairly dirty track, and conditions improve throughout the weekend. It’s bumpy, making it quite easy to make a mistake. Tire behavior changes a lot as the track grip improves. There are many points to consider to have the right settings, especially for the Prost curve. A good setup is necessary to take care of the front tires, avoid oversteer, and achieve the best top speed on the pit straight. We had good winter testing, but now the serious stuff begins. Last year went very well for us here, and I hope to stay in the running for another good race.

The eye of Paul Hembery, Pirelli Motorsport Director: Last year, we set high standards by helping to deliver a season with the most overtakes in F1 history. This year, we aim to make the spectacle even better. Generally speaking, our tires will be less conservative, as can be seen with the nominations for the first three Grand Prix of the season. However, teams have a better idea of what to expect from us for 2012, having completed nearly 50,000 km of pre-season testing. We are confident that they will already have a pretty good grasp of the tire characteristics and possible strategies. This year, we tried to offer more options, which naturally makes tires a bigger topic of discussion. The drivers and cars will always be the stars of the show, but we would like once again to bring the tires to the forefront. The teams have asked us to challenge them this year, and our goal is naturally not to disappoint them. We are therefore looking forward to another fabulous race in Australia, where it is always fantastic to start the season, thanks to the wonderful atmosphere and warm hospitality.

To know before Melbourne:

– L’Australie est un circuit semi-permanent, qui n’est pas très utilisé durant l’année, et où la surface est douce et non abrasive. Cela signifie que la piste est assez « verte » au début week-end, mais qu’elle évolue considérablement au fur et à mesure que se dépose la gomme.

– Environ deux arrêts aux stands par monoplace sont attendus. Il s’agissait de la stratégie pour gagner l’an dernier, 11 des 14 premiers de la course l’ayant adoptée.

– L’accélération et le freinage constituent les principales caractéristiques des 5,303 km du circuit de l’Albert Park. Les forces longitudinales exercées sur les pneus, en l’absence de courbes très exigeantes, sont ainsi plus fortes que les forces latérales.

– Le pneu arrière-gauche est le plus sollicité sur l’Albert Park, 10 virages évoluant vers la droite, et six vers la gauche.

– Une grande incertitude règne côté météo: on peut avoir au menu des pluies torrentielles comme un soleil éclatant ! Les tendres et les medium représentent les combinaisons les plus adaptables avec une vaste fenêtre de températures possibles. Les premiers rapports météo indiquent que la pluie pourrait s’inviter pour les essais libres de vendredi.

– L’an dernier, Pirelli avait désigné le composé dur aux côtés du tendre. L’allocation 2012 est moins conservatrice, le medium étant bien plus proche des caractéristiques du tendre 2011.