Ferrari still have a lot to learn about 2012 Pirelli compound tyres – Formula 1 news
Ferrari's head tyre engineer, Hirohide Hamashima has said that they still have a lot to learn about the 2012 Pirelli compound tyres.
Hamashima joined the Scarlet team during the start of the current season. He was recruited to increase team’s understanding regarding this year’s tyres.
Although, Fernando Alonso of Ferrari is presently leading the drivers’ championship with 164 points and has a strong lead over his main rivals, Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel of Red Bull Racing. However, the Japanese tyre expert has recently said that
they have not been able to create a complete insight about the tyres and are trying their best to make the most out of their tyre management.
“Still we are studying very hard how the tyres behave and the process for preparing the tyres to find out which way is the best,” he said.
In addition, he said that the characteristics of the Pirelli tyres are very much different as compared to the Bridgestone. He also said that in order to optimise the tyre usage in this season, the conditioning is very important.
“My understanding so far is that the previous company's tyres had a flat working range and the current tyres have more of a peak. So it is important to prepare tyre properly and also driver has to make an effort to use it for the best behaviour and those
factors will be very important for the future,” he said.
Besides, he admired the performance of the Spaniard who has tremendously restricted the probable set-backs of the Italian team in the opening few races. Additionally, he said that according to him the two-time world champion is at the top of the standings
because of his own skills and abilities.
“I think the main reason why Fernando is leading the championship is Fernando himself,” he added.
Over and above, he said that they had managed to use the tyres really well during the Malaysian GP in which Alonso claimed his first victory of the current season in the wet weather conditions and later in the European GP which was one of the toughest races
to win.
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