Pirelli unveils 2013 tyres

23/01/2013

Pirelli enters the 2013 Formula One season with a completely revolutionised range of tyres for dry and wet weather. The new tyres have been developed according to the wishes of the teams and the latest rules from the FIA.

The most recent evolutions benefit the compounds, which have become softer, the structures, which are more flexible and the shoulders, which have been reinforced.

The objective of all these innovations, which work closely together, is to improve performance and increase thermal degradation, to ensure at least two pit stops per race and open up more strategic options for the teams.

The sidewalls also look different, with colours that are more immediately striking and a brand new marking: orange, which comes in place of last year's silver to denote the hardest compound.

"The 2013 season continues the philosophy adopted by Pirelli last year in evolving the original 2011 range of tyres," said Pirelli's motorsport director Paul Hembery. "The goal is to continuously set new challenges for the drivers and to ensure that all the teams start the new season on a level playing field when it comes to the tyres.

"Through accumulating more information with each grand prix last year, the teams eventually fully understood the tyres, after a spectacular start with seven winners from the first seven races. The result at the end of the year was races with less competition and sometimes only one pit stop. This phenomenon was also observed in 2011, disappointing many fans and prompting some of the teams to ask us to continue developing our tyres further this year, in order to provide a fresh challenge with something different.

"Our 2013 range of tyres mixes up the cards once more to help overtaking and ensure two to three pit stops per race."

The development of the 2013 P Zero and Cinturato ranges included thousands of computer simulations carried out by Pirelli's engineers throughout the 2012 season, using sophisticated predictive software. These simulations, which were backed up by laboratory tests on the compounds, have been integrated with data collected during grands prix and the seven thousand so kilometres covered during five private tests with the Renault R30. Pirelli's test car was driven by Jaime Alguersuari and Lucas di Grassi at Jerez, Spa, Barcelona (for two sessions) and Paul Ricard (for a wet weather test).

The teams were able to sample the new P Zero Orange hard tyre during free practice in Brazil last November, but the debut for the complete new range will come at the first official test in Jerez at the beginning of February.

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.

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