Pirelli stands ready to supply special ‘qualifying tyres’ to formula one teams next year.

With the emphasis of the sport’s spectacle now relying on the complex and heavily degrading control tyres, it was the qualifying session that suffered last weekend in Barcelona.

Arguably to the detriment of Saturday’s spectacle, teams took an exceedingly strategic view of the fight for pole position, with some drivers sitting out the decisive ‘Q3′ runout altogether.

One solution, according to Pirelli’s chairman Marco Tronchetti Provera, is the return of ‘qualifying tyres’.

The proposal has been made following recent criticism, notably by seven time world champion Michael Schumacher, of Pirelli’s 2012 product.

Tronchetti defended his marque’s approach.

“What we have is many competitive cars, which is what the teams wanted — opprtunity for everyone who is able to win,” he told Italian radio Rai GR Parlamento.

“So it’s fine if someone complains. We are available to the teams. We are ready to make qualifying tyres tomorrow.

“But they are choices that are not ours.”

Five races in, F1′s cleverest brains are still yet to decode the mystery of the bizarre and fascinating 2012 season.

As was the case when he utterly dominated last year, Sebastian Vettel is still leading the drivers’ points chase.

But, before last weekend, if he had been told that Williams’ Pastor Maldonado would be the winner of the Spanish grand prix, the German admitted: “Well, I would have put a lot of money on them!

“I think the odds weren’t bad,” he smiled.

Indeed, the major British bookmaker William Hill was taking bets at 500-1 prior to the Barcelona weekend.

A spokesman confirmed that only two bets at 10 pounds or above were placed on Maldonado prior to qualifying.

“I’m sure Williams don’t understand why they just won the race here,” McLaren’s Jenson Button is quoted by the Guardian newspaper.

But the previously-derided ‘pay driver’ Maldonado is not the only potential new winner in 2012, after Jenson Button, Fernando Alonso, Nico Rosberg and Vettel won the opening four grands prix.

A detailed look at F1′s specialist reporting in the past few weeks shows that Lewis Hamilton, Mark Webber, Kimi Raikkonen, Romain Grosjean, Michael Schumacher, Sergio Perez and Kamui Kobayashi are all also widely regarded as genuine victory candidates in 2012.

And given that their teammates have won grands prix this season, even the struggling Felipe Massa and Bruno Senna should be added to that list.

“Dammit, let’s go for (HRT’s) Karthikeyan!” wrote Chris Hockley in the Sun newspaper.

“It’s really quite crazy right now,” Vettel, who despite his young age would count himself among F1′s currently perplexed purists, told Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport.

“What’s happening is difficult for us to explain,” he added.

The situation has split the F1 audience, with the purists shaking their heads, and others marvelling at the unprecedented spectacle.

“The spectacle has taken over the sport,” said the Paris daily Le Figaro.

“Even the teams can’t be sure who will be the hare and who will be the tortoise at any given track,” wrote Hockley.

Alonso, who is the joint championship leader, is in the purists’ camp.

“Of course it is attractive for the spectators that we are going to Monaco not knowing if we will fight for victory or be left out of the points,” he is quoted by El Pais.

“But in a way, after eleven years in formula one and now I’m at Ferrari, I would like to have more stability,” the Spaniard admitted.

Sir Jackie Stewart said: “What’s going on is unbelievable, which I think is the outcome of the new rules, new tyres — I think it’s many factors,” he told the Spanish sports daily AS.

“What’s happening,” said Maldonado’s race engineer Xevi Pujolar, “is that these tyres are allowing teams who do not have the biggest budgets to be eligible for really good results.

“The reason is that the most important thing now is to have a good setup and also some luck with the temperature.”

Pirelli, F1′s tyre maker, has received both criticism and praise for its huge role.

“Pirelli have been both bold and brave,” Sun journalist Hockley said. “It can’t be easy for a manufacturer to make tyres that sometimes wear out faster than you can say Mercedes.”

Marco Tronchetti Provera, the Italian marque’s company chief, is unapologetic.

“What we have provided is what the teams have asked for, and it was not easy,” Italian language reports quote him saying. “Our engineers have done an extraordinary thing.”

50,000 tyres will be produced for F1 in 2011

Pirelli, present since 1960, celebrates 50 years’ activity in Turkey

Pirelli today inaugurated the “Factory of Champions” at Izmit, the plant where the group will produce tyres for all the Formula One teams for the 3-year period 2011-2013. The Izmit facility, which this year celebrates 50 years’ activity, has housed the Motorsport tyre production line since 2007 and, in synergy with the Research and Development centre in Milan, will become the heart of Pirelli’s Formula One activities.

Producing 8 million tyres for cars, trucks and motorsport each year, Izmit is the Pirelli factory with the greatest unit output of all. The group has invested 140 million euros there over the last 10 years and plans to invest a further 30 million euros in 2011 to support expansion in Turkey and nearby emerging markets.

The Formula One tyre division was inaugurated with a press conference at the plant with the participation of Nihat Ergun, Turkey’s Minister for Industry and Commerce, Gianpaolo Scarante, Ambassador of Italy in Turkey, Marco Tronchetti Provera, Chairman and CEO of the Pirelli Group, Francesco Gori, CEO of Pirelli Tyre, Andrea Pirondini, CEO of Turk Pirelli Lastikleri and Metin Ar, Chairman of Turk Pirelli Lastikleri.

Pirelli in Turkey

Inaugurated in 1960, the Izmit facility produces tyres for the car and industrial segments, as well as Motorsport. It supplies key European markets (including Turkey, ltaly, Germany, France, Spain, Greece, Switzerland, Austria, United Kingdom) and the Middle East, as well as car makers such as Mercedes, Jaguar, Fiat and Renault. The facility, which also houses a steel cord factory in its 25th year of activity, covers an area of 340,000 square metres and employs 1,800 people.

Pirelli expects 2010 revenue in Turkey of over 500 million euros, an increase of over 25% compared with 2009, and will strengthen its position further with new investments of 30 million euros in 2011, having already invested 140 million euros in the last 10 years.

Turkey and Formula One

With the launch of the Formula One division, Pirelli has broadened its offering of automobile sports tyres. In 2011, the Company will produce a total of 200,000 competition tyres, 50,000 of these for Formula One and 70,000 for the GP2 and GP3 championships, for which Pirelli is the sole supplier. The remainder will go to the 60 international automobile road and track competitions for which the Milan-based tyre maker is the exclusive supplier, as well as prestigious single brand championships such as the Ferrari Challenge, Lamborghini Super Trofeo and Trofeo Maserati. In total, Pirelli’s automotive sports range counts 200 types of racing tyres, including rally tyres.

Formula One tyres will be produced exclusively at the Izmit plant on the basis of simulation models, compounds and structures developed by Pirelli Research and Development, which counts over 1,000 engineers and technicians. The Formula One line, which covers an area of 15,000 square metres, will run the most advanced sports tyre production machinery.

The Izmit facility, in synergy with Pirelli’s centre for the preparation of sports tyres in Burton on Trent (United Kingdom), will also be the centre of all Formula One logistics activities.

First tests

The new PZero Formula One tyres, developed on the basis of Pirelli’s extensive experience in road and track automobile competitions, have been tested, beginning in mid-August, with success on tracks in Mugello (Italy), Le Castellet (France) and Jerez (Spain) and have recently undergone new tests on the Monza (Italy) circuit. In Mugello and Le Castellet, structures and profiles were tested to guarantee maximum adaptability, continuity and homogeneity of tyre performance. In Jerez and Monza, testing focused on optimization of the compounds, of which there will be six: four “slicks” for dry conditions, one rain tyre and one intermediate for light rain.

Track testing was done on a Toyota TF 109, used in last season’s Grand Prix, driven in Jerez by Germany’s Nick Heidfeld. Final testing is expected to take place in Abu Dhabi in November after the Grand Prix.

“The tests went beyond my own expectations and I believe Pirelli is at a good point in the development of the tyres,” said Heidfeld. “The Pirelli team, to whom I think I gave some useful advice, has from the beginning been on the right track in terms of supplying all Teams with reliable and safe tyres to ensure a great show and enable each driver to express their own driving style”.

Formula One and sustainability

In line with the Pirelli Group’s Green Performance strategy, aimed at developing products and solutions that combine maximum performance and safety with respect for the environment, Formula One production was also inspired by criteria of environmental sustainability. In particular, as in all Pirelli competition tyres, the compounds for the PZero are free of highly aromatic oils. Further, the processes used in Izmit are based on energy and water efficiency and the reduction of dangerous emissions like carbon dioxide. Special attention has been given to the re-utilization of production remnants and used tyres. The waste handling protocol calls for the recycling of used F1 tyres for either the generation of new primary material or energy production. Pirelli’s attention to the issue of sustainability is also shown by its recent confirmation in the Dow Jones Sustainability STOXX and Dow Jones Sustainability World indices, where the Company has been the leading company in the “Autoparts and Tires” sector for four consecutive years.

Pirelli’s 50 years in Turkey

The inauguration of the Formula One division coincides with celebrations for the 50th anniversary of Turk Pirelli’s activities which will include, among other things, a photographic exhibition which opened yesterday at Istanbul’s Ciragan Palace. The collection of images recounts the history of the Company’s industrial presence in Turkey and its technological evolution. The official opening was attended by local authorities and leading exponents of Turkey’s business and cultural communities, including the director Ferzan Ozpetek and singer Sezene Aksu

Red Bull does not share Ferrari’s view about the outcome of the recent European grand prix.

Ferrari is still on the warpath about the Valencia stewards’ reaction to the safety car period, when Lewis Hamilton passed the AMG Mercedes but received only a drive-through penalty many laps later.

Enraged that the Briton still finished second, the Italian team’s website has now drawn attention to a short comment made on RAI radio by Pirelli president Marco Tronchetti Provera.

The Italian reportedly said it was “a chaotic situation which did incredible damage to Ferrari”.

But Australian driver Mark Webber says his Red Bull team has a different view.

“For me, everything in that race was fine,” he told the BBC.  “I can only go on what my team told me … and they told me the race was handled normally.”

Meanwhile, Hamilton says a word of words about the incident with his former nemesis Alonso is now over.

“We (text) messaged the other day, things are cool,” the 2008 world champion told Reuters.

“He said everything’s cool and he knows how the racing world works and this is a tough year,” added Hamilton.

(GMM)

Entering formula one will not cause Pirelli to increase its budget, chairman Marco Tronchetti Provera said on Thursday.

The Italian company has won its bid to succeed the sport’s departing exclusive supplier Bridgestone in 2011, but its boss played down suggestions the sport is still extremely expensive for participants.

Tronchetti Provera confirmed that teams are paying Pirelli for service over the next three years, adding that the cost to the marque “will be zero compared to our budget”.

And “the advertising campaign … will be switched from other races where we’ve reduced our presence, first of all rallying, where there are new rules starting next year”, he is quoted as saying by the AFP news agency.

“We’ll reduce our budget in other racing (categories) and be fully dedicated to formula one,” he said, although Pirelli will also supply GP2 and GP3 next year.

Meanwhile, Pirelli’s director of motorsport Paul Hembrey played down reports the unraced 2010 Toyota car will be used by the marque for F1 tyre testing.

Revealing that a GP2 car will be used instead, he said as “a test-bed, particularly for integrity reasons, reliability and stability, it’s probably a good starting point”.
(GMM)

un.8 (GMM)  It may be “weeks” before F1′s new tyre supplier for 2011 and beyond is confirmed, Pirelli president Marco Tronchetti Provera said on Tuesday.

Despite a final recent push from Michelin, it is now expected that the Milan based company will succeed the departing Bridgestone as formula one’s sole supplier.

F1 chief executive Bernie Ecclestone left Turkey frustrated that a decision is being delayed, but the teams said they expected a solution within days.

“We need to sort this out this week because it is already very, very late for us,” said Ferrari’s Stefano Domenicali before departing Istanbul.

On Tuesday, the bulk of the F1 world is busily travelling to Canada, making it clear that yet another race weekend will be dominated by the discussions about tyres.

But in Milan, Pirelli’s Provera indicated that he is not expecting an imminent conclusion.

“The decision will be taken soon.  It’s a question of weeks, not months,” he said.

In an interview with French newspaper Le Parisien published on Tuesday, FIA president Jean Todt also indicated that the process about selecting Bridgestone’s successor still has some road to run.

“It (the FIA) will soon launch a tender, with the commercial promoter of the championship, Bernie Ecclestone,” he said.

“FOTA may suggest that it decides, but the strong man is not he who speaks the loudest,” added Todt.

Apr.29 (GMM)  Pirelli has definitely joined the race to supply tyres to formula one teams next year.

We reported last week that, after a shareholder’s meeting of the Italian company, chairman Marco Tronchetti Provera said Pirelli might be interested in entering F1 if certain conditions are met.

He said that if the permitted diameter of F1 tyres is increased, and providing the arrangement makes financial sense, Pirelli would “look into this (F1) world with greater attention”.

But in the wake of his comments, the F1 teams alliance FOTA met on Wednesday of this week, and Williams’ Sam Michael emerged confirming that the bulk of the conversation centred on a choice between Michelin and Avon.

However, Pirelli said in a statement on Thursday that it will now “present … an offer for the supply of tyres to all the teams in the F1 championship”.

The marque said the presentation will take place in Barcelona ahead of next weekend’s Spanish grand prix.

Apr.22 (GMM)  A third name has emerged as a potential supplier of formula one tyres in 2011.

It has been confirmed that Michelin, favoured by the FOTA group, as well as Avon-Cooper – believed to be favoured by Bernie Ecclestone and small F1 teams due to its lower-cost proposal – are in the running to replace the departing official supplier Bridgestone.

Milan-based Pirelli said late last year that it did not want to enter F1 because it “prefers to develop tyres for racing that will also be used on the road”.

But after a shareholder’s meeting in Milan on Wednesday, chairman Marco Tronchetti Provera said Pirelli might rethink its attitude if certain conditions are met.

Like Michelin, he said Pirelli wants the diameter of F1′s tyres to be increased from 13 to 18 inches, and would also need to supply its product with an economic benefit to the company.

According to Italian reports including ANSA and the Milan daily Il Giornale, Tronchetti Provera added that if those conditions can be met, Pirelli would “look into this (F1) world with greater attention”.

He insisted however that at the moment “there is nothing” more to the rumours.