Pirelli finalizes its tire choices up to Singapore
The Italian manufacturer, the sole supplier for Formula One teams, has chosen its tires for the Belgian, Italian, and Singapore Grand Prix.
Pirelli has unveiled the tire compounds that will be offered to teams during the next three Grand Prix events. Thus, the soft and medium tires will be available to drivers on the mythical Ardennes rollercoaster and the equally legendary Monza autodrome, while the Italian manufacturer will then return to the super soft/soft association seen – or barely seen – in Monaco, Canada, and more recently at the Hungaroring, for the nighttime Singapore Grand Prix.
« We are learning more and more with each race in our first year of Formula One and we are refining our tire choice based on the information we accumulate » says Paul Hembery, head of Pirelli Competizioni.
We have three of the most thrilling races on the calendar coming up, and we believe our tires will be well-suited to the characteristics of these very different yet equally exciting circuits.
Recent choices by Pirelli, however, have not been very successful, largely due to a July that was below seasonal norms. In Great Britain, many considered Pirelli’s choice to be timid and thought that the super soft/soft tires would have been a better fit, while at the Nurburgring, drivers preferred to use the softest tires in the range and delay switching to hard tires as long as possible, with Sebastian Vettel and Felipe Massa waiting until the last lap to change them. Of course, there will always be unknown factors, such as the weather, but the choices we’ve made have been decided to help teams maximize their performance and race strategies.