Pirelli will be introducing its new medium tire at
the Grand Prix of Europe this weekend in Valencia,
Spain.
The P Zero White medium tire is not quite
as durable as the hard tire seen during the first
five grands prix of the season, but it is quicker
while still representing a significant step in range
over the P Zero Yellow soft tire, which is the
option tire in Valencia, according to motorsports
director Paul Hembery.
Pirelli has tested in Valencia twice
during the build-up to its first season in Formula
One, but only at the permanent circuit on the
outskirts of the city rather than on the 5.419-
kilometer street circuit inaugurated in 2008, which
runs through the ultra-modern City of Arts and
Sciences made famous by the architecture of local
man Santiago Calatrava.
Valencia will be the third street circuit race in
succession this year, following Monaco and Canada,
where the outcome of the race was only settled in
the final laps.
The Valencia track has little in common with other
street circuits, containing a wide variety of
corners and a relatively high proportion of the lap
spent on full throttle, together with a smooth
surface.
The stop-start nature of the track and frequent
changes of direction place heavy demands on the
tires under traction and braking, while there is
also very little adhesion to provide lateral support
in the corners. The track is only used once a year,
which means that the amount of grip evolves
considerably over the course of the weekend as more
rubber is laid down.
“We’ve seen some fantastic street races so far this
season, with the last grand prix in Canada being one
of the highlights of the year, so we hope that
Valencia will continue this pattern although it’s
notoriously difficult to overtake there,” says
Hembery.
“Tire wear on this circuit is likely to be quite
high because of the track layout, the nature of the
surface, and also the weather conditions, which
should be very warm. For all these reasons, we’ve
selected the medium and soft tires, which should
provide the teams with a good level of resistance,
plenty of different opportunities for strategy and
about a second per lap difference between the
compounds,” he reports.
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“The P Zero White tires have been adjusted slightly
from our original specification to make them a bit
more durable, along the lines of the tweak we made
to the P Zero Silver hard tire in Spain, and this
was the compound that the teams tested during
Friday’s free practice in Canada, giving us plenty
of useful data,” explains Hembery.
“Valencia is a really long and technical lap where
you need to have good balance in order to perform at
your best,” says Vitantonio Liuzzi of the Hispania
Racing Team. “From the driver’s point of view, the
most difficult thing is braking and turning and
finding a way to overtake. It will be a really hard
race for the tires as well, especially the rears, as
they are under quite a lot of pressure at slow
speeds because of the high traction demands,” he
adds.
“It will be difficult not to overheat the rears,
given the nature of the surface combined with the
track temperature. I’m looking forward to this race
because it’s another home race and another demanding
race,” Liuzzi continues. “For the tires, Valencia
will be a big challenge in terms of durability –
even though they have reacted well up to now in many
different conditions.”
For more information, visit www.us.pirelli.com.