Formula 1 | Pirelli set to deliver an excellent tire for F1 2022?

For the first year of 18-inch tires, in 2022, Pirelli wants to develop more enduring compounds, with a wider operating window and allowing more attack – and longer.

The manufacturer, however, only had modified mules to conduct its tests, further slowed down by the Covid. But would he still have reached his target?

A « top » pilot, speaking anonymously for the BBC, expressed his optimism: “The new tires are really better, you can push longer and harder. « 

Mario Isola, on Pirelli’s side, confirms this good story (for the BBC as well): the FIA’s mission letter would be well affected if we are to believe the first elements.

“When testing the 18-inch tires, the drivers were satisfied with the result. Lewis [Hamilton], for example, is not a pilot who likes testing, but he decided to do it for a day and he gave us his opinion, which was rather positive. « 

The 18-inch tires might also be able to operate at lower pressures, which would be more good news, Isola continues.

“Part of our continuous improvement is to design increasingly robust tires without using pressure as the only tool to react to it. If the simulations are confirmed when we run the tires, I would expect to run at lower pressure with the 18 inch tires. « 

But these are therefore only mule cars: while the 2022 F1 cars are still in the wind tunnel, even though it is said that they will ultimately be almost as fast as the current ones (the gap was supposed to be several seconds. ..), Pirelli is not immune to a nasty surprise. Isola knows it.

“We tested on ‘mule’ cars, so we have to validate the results on the 2022 cars which will be different. « 

“There is a lot of talk about the actual performance of the 2022 cars, because at the beginning everyone expected the cars to be three seconds slower than the current cars. « 

“Now we are talking about a possible performance very close to current cars and that affects the compounds. We are designing a range of compounds focused on the performance we expect for the following year. « 

“Either way, the compounds are completely new because we decided to change the philosophy to achieve the goals. So we took a completely different approach with different ingredients. « 

And in the event of an unpleasant surprise, is Pirelli still able to make emergency adjustments?

“If there is a need to adjust the compounds for the following year, we have the 25 days of testing for 2022 and we are also free to select the compounds in a different way from race to race. other. I am very confident we can find a good balance. « 

On the side of Ross Brawn, the manager of motorsports for Liberty Media, we finally confirm these encouraging promises …

“One of the things Pirelli has tried to do is make the tires less sensitive to heat, so that if a rider pushes a tire too hard, the tire can maintain life. « 

“It’s a bit difficult with the tires we have now, and they seem to be making progress in that regard. « 

“The pilots are starting to appreciate the characteristics of the new tires. But until we set the final specs and see them working with the new car, we can’t assess properly. «