Pirelli not concerned about supplying wet tyres for 2011 Turkish Grand Prix – Formula 1 news
The lone tyre suppliers of Formula 1 for the 2011 Formula 1 season Pirelli have recently stated that they are not concerned about supplying wet tyres for the Turkish Grand Prix and insisted that the teams will not run short of wet tyres.
Since the teams were trying to save their sets of wet tyres during the rainy first Friday free practice session of the race weekend, it was believed that the teams might run out of these compounds until the race.
However according to the weather forecast, rain is not certain over the next two days but either way, the motorsport director of Pirelli Paul Hembery has stated that the teams will be given three sets of full-wet tyres and four sets of intermediates for
the race weekend in order to make it easier for them to perform at their best.
“The weather for the rest of the weekend looks like it is going to be brighter, but even if it continued to rain, our wet tyres are designed to last for 30 laps or longer while the intermediates can run for about 20, so there are no concerns about supply,”
he said.
Other than that, Hembery told the media that the teams might have to be a bit cautious about their tyre choice in case they have to use full wets at each session this weekend. He urged the organisers stating that a single rule change can solve this problem.
“If there are three days of rain it would be tight. The teams would be for it (a rule change) and surely the FIA as well. F1 would look pretty ridiculous if drivers have to retire from the race because they have no tyres left,” he added.
The two McLaren drivers just completed three laps during the session in order to save the tyres and their team boss Martin Whitmarsh admitted that the team felt it was more ‘prudent’ to save the tyres for the qualifying session and the race that are expected
to take place on Saturday and Sunday.
The new tyres have been quite beneficial for the teams and they have been the main reason for the sport’s success up until now this season. Pirelli has increased the exhilaration factor of the sport more with the reintroduction of the Kinetic Energy Recovery
System and Drag Reduction System.
The quick degradation of the new tyres has also resurrected the importance of race strategy this year as most of the teams are now opting for at least a two-pit strategy at each race despite the berserk 1 pit run by Sauber’s Sergio Perez.
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