Pirelli is motoring full-bore toward its 2011-2013 Formula One racing sponsorship via a focused research and development initiative along with an aggressive publicity campaign designed to attract more customers into tire dealer showrooms.
“In the coming years, Formula One is expected to attract around 2 billion television viewers per season, with important media coverage in emerging markets as well,” according to spokesman Joe Severns, reflecting on a recent presentation from Chairman Marco Tronchetti Provera and Managing Director Francesco Gori.
“Pirelli’s business development and growth strategy, which is concentrated in these areas, will benefit hugely from the global visibility offered by Formula One, helping to promote the brand and maximize return on the marketing investment,” he explains.
“Formula One will become an important showcase for the Pirelli brand along with its commercial and industrial growth,” says Severns, “without impacting the company’s existing financial strategy in any way.”
The initiative includes creating a team consisting of engineers and researchers dedicated to the development and production of new Formula One-friendly tires.
To meet Formula One’s requirements regarding reliability, safety and performance, “Pirelli’s engineers are already working on simulation models and tire compounds that will be most suited to the rigors of Grand Prix racing,” he reports.
Pirelli’s Formula One team will be an international group of people based in Milan, Italy, where the research and development department is based. “This division has traditionally been at the heart of Pirelli’s cutting-edge technology and is formed of 1,000 research engineers working in five development centers located all over the world,” says Severns, noting that the company annually allocates between 3 percent and 4 percent of its revenues, “the highest level in the tire industry worldwide,” toward research into new products.
The Formula One tires will be produced in the motorsport department of Pirelli’s Izmit factory in Turkey, which is dedicated entirely to competition tires.
As established by the FIA (Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile), the Pirelli Formula One supply agreement includes development of six different types of tires for the whole season. Four of those tires will be slicks– with different compounds to suit various dry asphalt surfaces – and one will be a rain tire for heavy precipitation. There will also be an intermediate tire for damp conditions and light rain.
“In cooperation with the teams, Pirelli is also ready to develop technical evolutions to the current tires for the future, regarding in particular the wheel size,” according to Severns.
For more information, visit www.us.pirelli.com.
