Paul Hembery says Pirelli medium and soft tyres to be used in Valencia Grand Prix – Formula 1 news
Pirelli motorsports director Paul Hembery has confirmed that the medium compound white tyres and soft compound yellow tyres will be used in the Valencia Grand Prix of the 2011 Formula 1 season.
Hembery added that the track condition and temperature in Valencia are always tough on the tyres for which Pirelli has modified their medium compound to suit the conditions.
Before this, the soft and supersoft tyres were to be used in the Valencia race but after trying out the medium compound in the Canadian Grand Prix qualifiers and Friday practice sessions, Pirelli decided to drop the supersoft tyres for the Valencia street
race.
Hembery explains, “Tyre 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 tyres.”
Hembery added that these two tyres will provide the Formula 1 teams with every opportunity to make the Valencia race a memorable one. He further added that about one second difference in speed is expected due to the tyres in Valencia.
After having some exceptional race results in terms of overtaking and pitstops, Pirelli has hugely changed the anatomy of Formula 1 racing. Hembery stated that the race in Montreal was a spectacle but the Valencia track is much more difficult for overtaking.
He said, “The PZero White tyres have been adjusted slightly from our original specification to make them a bit more durable and this was the compound that the teams tested during Friday's free practice in Canada, giving us plenty of useful data.”
Pirelli tyres have already smashed a few records in terms of overtaking and are likely to continue the trend in the remainder of the season.
Number of pitstops has increased dramatically in the 2011 season and the driver and his team have to be very precise about their tyre strategy.
The 2011 season continues in Valencia on June 26. Let’s see how does the Pirelli rubber fare there.
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