Pirelli confident tyre issues are over

A used Pirelli tyre on a Red Bull-Renault after the Chinese GP, China, Shanghai, 17 April 2011. (Photo by Rainer W. Schlegelmilch/Getty Images)

In an effort to eliminate the issue of tyre delamination which has been plaguing them in recent races, Pirelli is all set to make changes at the British Grand Prix.

Pirelli, who had previously planned to showcase a rear tyre constructed with a Kevlar belt, during this weekend’s race at Silverstone, had to drop the idea as they were not able to get unanimous votes from the respective teams taking part in the race. Instead they opted to keep the steel belt with a new bonding process to prevent the tread detaching itself from the belt.

Pirelli manager Paul Hembery was quoted as saying: “Silverstone, with its very high average speeds and flowing series of corners, presents an extreme contrast to Canada three weeks ago – which was much more stop and start.”

“Like Canada, it’s a circuit that takes a lot out of the tyres, but for very different reasons. We’ve brought the two hardest compounds to the British Grand Prix because of that, with a new bonding process connecting the tread to the steel belt, which is designed to eliminate the isolated delamination issues to reach a unanimous agreement about this: however, we do still have that possibility on stand-by should it be required in future,” he added.

As divulged by the Pirelli boss, the tyre manufacturers are also going to introduce a prototype super-hard compound for use in the first two practice sessions at Silverstone.

The initiative calls for two sets of extra tyres to be given to each driver during the Friday sessions at Silverstone.

Source: ESPN F1