Pirelli is working on new rear tires
Squarer-looking tires to improve ground contact surface.
If the majority of the teams gradually turn towards 2012, Pirelli, the sole tire manufacturer, is also thinking about the next season.
New to the discipline after the departure of Bridgestone, Pirelli is considering changing the shape of its rear tires. This is explained by Paul Hembery, director of motorsport for the Italian brand, to the Autosport website. The tires offered to the different teams will therefore have a more square appearance to provide a larger contact surface with the track but also to reduce tire degradation.
« The shape will change, yes. The goal is to have better wear on the sides. It’s difficult to say how much it will change. Currently, we are not using the entire surface on the ground. We had to stop the development [this year] because we had little time and we wanted to provide fixed data to the teams because we were new to the sport and didn’t want to make constant changes, » explains Hembery.
This increase in ground contact area is also expected to improve the performance of single-seaters next season.
Since the beginning of the season, Pirelli has already made some changes to its hard and medium tires, making them more resistant. This weekend, the Italian manufacturer will offer teams the chance to test a new soft tire during Friday’s free practice sessions.
