On the eve of Formula One’s preseason testing, Pirelli has announced that teams will get to use a “winter” version of their hard compound tires for this week’s session at Jerez de la Frontera, Spain.
All of the teams are coming to grips with their new turbocharged V-6 engines and other technical changes, so one assumes they don’t want to lose any bit of track time because of cold weather in Jerez. With that in mind, Pirelli has brought in the one-off “winter” tires that are optimized to perform in low ambient temperatures with a reduced risk of graining.
“Last year, the teams lost some preseason running due to excessively cold conditions in Spain: We even saw some ice on the track at one point,” Pirelli motorsport director Paul Hembery said in a statement.
“In order to combat this, we have developed a special ‘winter’ version of the hard compound. This will be used for the Jerez test only and it is designed to work effectively even in cold conditions.”
Additionally, Pirelli has announced an arrangement to have the Jerez circuit watered down for Friday, the final day of the four-day test. This is occurring because the new 2014 regulations state that one of the 12 days of preseason testing must be devoted to wet-weather tire testing.
Thus, in addition to all four of Pirelli’s slick tire compounds, their intermediate and full wet compounds are also coming along for the Jerez test.
Pirelli also revealed some notes regarding their new 2014 tires. In addition to new compounds and constructions, each rear tire now weighs 250 grams more and each front tire weighs 200 grams more than the 2013 tires. Also:
- The front tires have a new profile, while the rear profile remains largely unaltered.
- The new compounds are generally slightly harder than their 2013 equivalents to optimize grip.
- The full wet tire has a new rear tread pattern in order to reduce aquaplaning by increasing how much water can be dispersed at full speed. It also has a new compound that is able to work well in damp and/or drying conditions, in order to increase the crossover point to the intermediates.
