One mystery to be solved this weekend is just how much trouble the Ferrari team is in. Depending on who is asked in the paddock, the famous Italian team is either in full-speed 'crisis', slightly off the pace, or bluffing after apparently struggling with its all-new F2012 car in winter testing. Pirelli's Paul Hembery warned that writing off a great team like Ferrari is "very dangerous". "From the data I've seen," he told Auto Motor und Sport, "they seem to have some good pace. "They […]

Paul Hembery has admitted Pirelli's new soft tyre might not degrade quick enough in 2012. The sport's new supplier was lauded at the beginning of 2011 for spicing up the action by bringing tyres that quickly degrade. But by the end of the season the teams had essentially solved the mysteries of the rubber, and in recent winter testing it seemed apparent that the 2012 tyre generation is not as inherently heavily-degrading as the last. Motor sport director Hembery admits: "The soft tyres are not […]

Formula One looks set to prevent the cars of 2013 from being as 'ugly' as this season's field. Pirelli chief Paul Hembery recently called the 2012 generation, mainly featuring an awkward 'step' between the front of the monocoque and the nose, as "pig ugly". The odd look is the result of a compromise reached after the FIA decided to lower the tip of the nose in the name of safety. It emerges that it was Red Bull - whose Adrian Newey pioneered the high chassis […]

The scene could be set for the most competitive season in F1 history, according to Pirelli's Paul Hembery. He is referring to the fact that six world champions - Kimi Raikkonen, Sebastian Vettel, Fernando Alonso, Lewis Hamilton, Jenson Button and Michael Schumacher - will be on the Melbourne grid in March. That is a quarter of the entire 24-car field. "That is probably the highest level (of quality in F1) ever," Hembery is quoted as saying by Finland's Turun Sanomat, "particularly when you take into […]

Tyres: Total number of tyres provided for the season (dry and wets): Race tyres: 24,000 dry tyres; 4,600 wet tyres plus an additional 6,000 for the tests. Total numbers of tyres used: Dry tyres: 21,100; wet tyres: 2,900 Total kilogrammes of rubber deposited on track in 2011: 10,200 Number of tyres recycled during 2011: All, i.e. 28,600 race tyres plus 6,000 test tyres Average life span of a dry compound this season: 120 km Tracks and Races: Tracks which puts the most energy into a […]

Ferrari will be happy with the move towards even softer tyre compounds for 2012, Pirelli's F1 chief Paul Hembery has admitted. The famous Italian team has struggled on the harder compounds offered this year by the sport's new tyre supplier. Next year the compounds will be generally softer, Hembery said during an interview with La Gazzetta dello Sport. "They will all benefit, but yes in particular Ferrari will," he is quoted as saying. "The principle is that the current medium will be next year's hard, […]

As speculation swirls following Sebastian Vettel's race-ending tyre problem in Abu Dhabi, supplier Pirelli ruled itself out as the cause. The Red Bull driver's rear tyre suffered a sudden loss of air on the second corner of the opening lap, and the flailing rubber on the way back to the pits caused too much damage for him to return to the race. Media reports early this week suggested that, after Pirelli and the back-to-back world champion inspected the kerb and scoured the area for debris […]

Pirelli will investigate the tyre problem that caused Sebastian Vettel's only retirement in an otherwise almost flawless 2011 season. Having started from pole and spun at the second corner of the race, the German's Red Bull was badly damaged by the time he got the shredded tyre back to the pits. Pirelli announced that the "sudden deflation" will be investigated. "It certainly seems to be a very unusual incident and we've already been to look at the place with Sebastian: there seems to be no […]

Pirelli will move to reinject excitement into formula one for 2012. Earlier this season, the high spectacle of the grands prix was attributed to the new supplier's highly-degrading tyres, with Pirelli adopting a deliberately different approach than its predecessor Bridgestone. Auto Motor und Sport reports that Pirelli aims to confound the engineers and strategists yet again in 2012 by supplying even softer tyres. "We can see now that the number of pitstops has been coming down," said motor sport director Paul Hembery. "The drivers are […]

'Marbles' is a sensitive topic in the formula one paddock at present. The fact this year's Pirellis leave rubber shards all over the track is well-known, but in Korea recently the phenomenon badly affected Lewis Hamilton's bid for victory. Indeed, the frong wing used by the Briton in Korea - with big rubber marbles stuck between the aerodynamic elements - was quarantined by McLaren and rolled out for deep evaluation in Indian practice on Friday. It emerges that Bruno Senna's Renault was similarly affected at […]

Without setting a time in the decisive Q3 at Suzuka, local hero Kamui Kobayashi moved up three places and will start the race from seventh. The provisional results had showed the Japanese in tenth place, as the driver with the highest race number behind fellow non-runners Michael Schumacher, Bruno Senna and Vitaly Petrov. Ferrari team boss Stefano Domenicali hit out at the growing trend of drivers sitting out qualifying in order to save tyres for the race. "I think it shows something is not right […]

Pirelli has announced the tyre compounds teams will have to choose from at the final three grands prix of the tyre manufacturer’s first season back in Formula One. At the inaugural Indian Grand Prix, drivers will choose from Pirelli’s yellow-banded soft and silver-banded hard tyres, while in Abu Dhabi and Brazil, the white medium and yellow soft compounds will be available. “India is a big unknown for all the teams and ourselves, so we will also be taking the most durable hard tyre in order […]