Pirelli protests against the cancellation of Friday morning tests
Pirelli joins Sahara Force India to counter the abandonment of Friday morning practice. The Italian manufacturer justifies this based on the need for driver safety.
Since 2011 and Pirelli’s return to F1, the manufacturer has been offering solutions to enhance the spectacle of Formula 1 while improving driver safety. However, the Italian firm disagrees with the proposal to cancel Friday morning practice sessions to reduce costs.
Pirelli is therefore opposed to this solution, as explained by its director Paul Hembery: « It’s very disappointing, we had been moving in the right direction this year. There’s no doubt that testing on circuits like Bahrain is important, and now there would be no more tests? This is not what we want. »
A few hours earlier, also through the voice of Paul Hembery, the manufacturer had proposed a rather unexpected solution for the 2015 season. As a reminder, during the tests in Bahrain and Jerez at the beginning of the year, new tire versions had been tested for the next season, but Pirelli proposes to go even further: « After facing criticism on the softest tires [editor’s note: as in Silverstone in 2014], we are considering testing two specifications of tires on one car, different between the front and the rear, which would enhance the spectacle ».
In fact, Pirelli would like to use a so-called soft compound at the front to increase the number of pit stops and install a so-called hard compound to withstand the torque provided by the new turbo engines.
