Limited degradation for Pirelli tires at Silverstone

In Austria, blisters were very visible on the Pirelli tires. One of the most striking examples concerned the tires of Valtteri Bottas at the end of the race when it seemed as if the tire was simply cut with a knife in the middle. However, the visual effect was more impressive than actually impacting lap performance, as confirmed by Mario Isola, the competition director of the manufacturer, in the Silverstone paddock.

If the first free practice sessions have shown new blisters on the Italian tires, the reason is different from Austria: « Yes, we have degradation and we have blisters appearing. But it’s not the same as in Austria. Here, it mostly depends on the fuel level and the car settings. » Indeed, in England, there is no direct correlation between lap time and the level of blistering: the fastest do not necessarily have more blisters than the slower ones. Pirelli therefore expects to see this problem disappear over the course of the weekend as the different teams analyze the day’s data.

The official was also delighted to see that the tire grip allowed drivers to attempt to take the Maggotts-Becketts-Chapel sequence flat out, which was impossible in the past. However, there were many spins, particularly during Free Practice 2, as the drivers had to wrestle with their cars to keep them perfectly on the right line: « Our goal was to go faster but also make the cars harder to drive. It seems that we have succeeded! » states the Italian leader.

In the end, Pirelli is satisfied to see that its gamble to bring tires that are a notch softer than last year seems to be paying off and that its tires withstand the high pressures endured on a circuit that has often battered them. When asked by your reporter about the possibility of going even further, Mario Isola replies: We’ll soon have the answer. We are going to Spa with the soft, super soft, and ultra soft tires. If they still choose the super soft and ultra soft there, I don’t know what we’ll do! We’ll have to invent mega softs or change the names!

If the lap record has already been broken today, we can also expect it to go even faster during tomorrow’s qualifying. Pirelli estimates that drivers will not be able to take the risk of using the soft tires in Q3 because the performance difference between the soft and super soft tires is about 0.7 seconds, which could be prohibitive in a closely matched field.

The planned strategy for the race is therefore to make two pit stops, which could reshuffle the cards depending on the strategies considered by the teams.

From our special correspondent in Silverstone