F1: Pirelli Plays Down Wear Of 2013 Tires

Formula 1

F1: Pirelli Plays Down Wear Of 2013 Tires

The performance of the new Pirelli supersoft tire has been questioned by some...

Adam Cooper | http://www.speedtv.com | Posted February 22, 2013 Barcelona (ESP)

Pirelli's 2013 tire has generated considerable buzz in the paddock this season. (Photo: LAT Photographic)

Low temperatures in Barcelona didn’t help tires, says Pirelli

Pirelli says that the cold weather in Barcelona this week made tire degradation more extreme than it should be once the season gets underway.

While the Italian company has intended to create more degradation in 2013, it was worse than anticipated at Barcelona. The low temperatures also led to some graining, and the few teams that tried the supersoft struggled with it.

“The teams experienced quite high degradation in Barcelona, and that was really down to the weather conditions,” said Pirelli motor sport boss Paul Hembery. “The conditions we had in Barcelona are far from typical of the rest of the season, with much cooler ambient and track temperatures than we would normally race in, and even some rain on the final day.

“This put the tires outside of their usual working ranges, which led to problems such as graining. The conditions were particularly unsuited to the supersoft tire, due to the circuit layout and the roughness of the surface, in addition to the cold temperatures. Coupled with the fact that teams are still making big setup adjustments to their new cars and trying out our complete range of our tires to optimize the package, we saw levels of degradation that are not typical.

“Once we get to Melbourne (for the season opener), the tires should be much more within their intended working range, which will eliminate the unusual amount of degradation that some teams have experienced.”

Adam Cooper notched up his 28th season as a racing journalist in 2012. He has written about F1 for SPEED.com since 2005. Follow him on Twitter.

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