Pirelli has ruled out making changes to its 2013 product, despite Red Bull and Mercedes complaining that this year's tyres are penalising the best cars. Mercedes' Toto Wolff, and Red Bull's Dr Helmut Marko, suggested in Malaysia that the sport's Italian supplier has agreed to bring modified tyres to Bahrain late next month. But we reported on Wednesday that Lotus and Ferrari - both much happier with Pirelli's current tyres - would 'veto' any changes on the grounds that they do not pose a safety […]

After three hours of running in Melbourne, the fog of the winter pre-season has finally begun to clear. Lotus, like Mercedes and Ferrari, looks quite competitive, but "The front row will be all Red Bull," said Romain Grosjean. Lewis Hamilton agreed: "They (Red Bull) have obviously been sand-bagging the whole time in winter as expected. "But I don't feel we're miles away." With Mercedes confirming its pre-season promise, and McLaren definitely struggling in Australia, Hamilton's winter switch now seems inspired. "I'm not sure what's happening […]

The F1 world was ruing the cold and wet Barcelona weather on Thursday, as the last days of pre-season testing began a fortnight ahead of the 2013 season opener. "I do wonder why we come here to test every winter," Pirelli's Paul Hembery is quoted by La Gazzetta dello Sport. "In the past we have talked about going to Bahrain. Maybe that makes more sense," he said. With more bad weather forecast, Hembery's frustration was widespread in the paddock. "Teams have never gone into a […]

Pirelli has announced their plans for the 2013 Formula One season. 2013 is the third season of Pirelli being the sole tyre supplier in the sport as they come to the end of a three year contract. "The defining characteristic of the 2013 Pirelli Formula One tyres is softer compounds all round, which will allow them to reach peak operating temperature faster and deliver lap times that are around 0.5 seconds faster than last year," read a Pirelli statement. "Swift evolution of Pirelli’s tyre technology […]

We catch up with Pirelli Motorsport Director Paul Hembery at the Autosport Show

Pirelli's new tyres for the 2013 season could shake up the pecking order in Formula One. That is the view of the Italian marque's British head of motor racing, Paul Hembery, who this week was in Sao Paulo to announce Pirelli's new foray in the Brazilian stock car series. It has been said that, because the technical regulations are not significantly changing over the winter, next year's pecking order could be a continuation of the 2012 season. But Hembery is quoted by O Estado de […]

There have been 204 fewer pitstops this year compared to the same period in 2011, an analysis by the German magazine Auto Motor und Sport shows. The report showed that, in the first 18 races of last year, there were 1,058 pitstops, compared to 854 so far in 2012. "Pirelli is playing it safer," journalist Michael Schmidt surmised. The conclusion is that while Pirelli's compounds are generally softer this year, the Italian marque is now often more conservative when it comes to choosing the compounds […]

Paul Hembery has revealed that next year's Pirelli tyres will be significantly different. The teams will get their first taste of the Italian marque's 2013 rubber during free practice in Brazil late this month. Pirelli's F1 boss Hembery told Brazilian journalists on Thursday: "The (2013) tyres will be significantly different to this year, which will challenge the teams because the cars will be virtually the same, with almost no change in the regulations. "The difference (in tyres) from 2012 to 2013, however, will have a […]

This year, Pirelli will bring the P Zero Silver hard and P Zero Yellow soft tyres to Japan: a change from last year’s nomination when the medium and the soft tyre was used. However, this year’s compounds are generally softer across the board, meaning that the tyres seen in Japan this year will offer even more performance, as has been the case throughout the season. This has not always been reflected in lap times, due to new technical regulations for 2012 that have slowed the […]

Robert Kubica could step up his quest to return to Formula One by becoming official tyre supplier Pirelli's next test driver. The Italian marque's current main tester, Jaime Alguersuari, is tipped to return to the paddock with a competing team in 2013. Pole Kubica, regarded as one of F1's most talented contemporaries until his early-2011 rallying crash, recently returned to competitive action after a 19-month recuperation with a couple of minor Italian rally outings. The 27-year-old fared well, but Kubica has said he is unlikely […]

Following the month-long summer break, Pirelli returns to action with the P Zero Silver hard tyre and P Zero White medium: a combination that has not been raced since the second grand prix of the season in Malaysia. The conditions at the legendary Spa-Francorchamps circuit will be somewhat different however. The 7.004-kilometre lap is the longest of the entire year by some margin, and this is just one of the factors that can lead to extremely variable weather conditions, with a high risk of rain. […]

The notoriously-small operating 'window' of this year's Pirelli tyres could have been avoided, with the help of the competing Formula One teams. That is the claim of the Italian marque's F1 chief Paul Hembery, who said the sport's official supplier did not foresee the full characteristics of the 2012 tyre. "The same tyres used on a 2010 car do not have the same level of challenge," the Briton is quoted by Brazil's Totalrace. Until last year, Pirelli was developing its F1 tyres with the 2009 […]