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.
“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.”
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