Pirelli to test 18-inch F1 wheels next week - MotorSportsTalk

Pirelli has confirmed that it will test a larger F1 wheel size at Silverstone next week in an attempt to make the sport more relevant to road cars.

The tire supplier will fit the Lotus E22 car with 18-inch tires on Wednesday, marking an increase from the current 13-inch tires that are used in Formula 1.

“Pirelli is introducing a new 18-inch tire design concept to showcase the way that Formula 1 could look in the near future,” a statement from the Italian company read.

“But rather than an abstract design, this is a fully functional tire, capable of completing demonstration runs around Silverstone during the forthcoming in-season test from next Tuesday to next Wednesday.

“The 18-inch tire is an idea that Pirelli has promoted ever since the company was first announced as Formula 1 official tire supplier back in 2010. Larger wheel and tire sizes reflect modern market trends; with the adoption of a larger size invariably leading to even greater technology transfer between Formula 1 tires and road car tires.”

In recent years, the sport has looked to become more road-relevant with the introduction of more efficient power units and energy recovery system. However, Pirelli reinforced the fact that it would have to be widely accepted by those in the sport to be implemented into future regulations, and the press release did concede that the subsequent reduction in advertising space could be a sticking point.

Nevertheless, Pirelli motorsport director Paul Hembery is excited about the test and feels that it will hark back to the 1970s when larger tires were used.

“The 13-inch tire is no longer relevant to the everyday road user, because even an 18-inch tire is used by standard vehicles these days,” he explained. “While 18-inch tires would be a big step for Formula 1, there are many other motorsport series that already use this size.” The newly-launched Formula E series is using 18-inch tires as standard.

“So there’s scope to go even bigger than that in Formula 1 in years to come,” he added. “In order to underline F1’s role as a test bed for future mobility solutions, we believe that it benefits everybody to have as close a link between road car tires and competition tires as possible: a belief we have held ever since we introduced the low profile tire from competition to road use back in the 1970s.”

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Media and fan attention focused on a controversial run-in between Haiden Deegan and his Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing teammate Jordon Smith during Round 10 of the Monster Energy Supercross race at Detroit, after which the 250 East points’ Hunter Lawrence defends the young rider in the postrace news conference.

Deegan took the early lead in Heat 1 of the round, but the mood swiftly changed when he became embroiled in a spirited battle with teammate Smith.

On Lap 3, Smith caught Deegan with a fast pass through the whoops. Smith briefly held the lead heading into a bowl turn but Deegan had the inside line and threw a block pass. In the next few turns, the action heated up until Smith eventually ran into the back of Deegan’s Yamaha and crashed.

One of the highlights of the battle seemed to include a moment when Deegan waited on Smith in order to throw a second block pass, adding fuel to the controversy.

After his initial crash, Smith fell to seventh on the next lap. He would crash twice more during the event, ultimately finishing four laps off the pace in 20th.

The topic was inevitably part of the postrace news conference.

“It was good racing; it was fun,” Deegan said at about the 27-minute mark in the video above. “I just had some fun doing it.”

Smith had more trouble in the Last Chance Qualifier. He stalled his bike in heavy traffic, worked his way into a battle for fourth with the checkers in sight, but crashed a few yards shy of the finish line and was credited with seventh. Smith earned zero points and fell to sixth in the standings.

Lawrence defends Deegan — *Jordon Smith failed to make the Detroit Supercross Main and fell to sixth in the points. – Feld Motor Sports*

“I think he’s like fifth in points,” Deegan said. “He’s a little out of it. Beside that it was good, I don’t know. I wasn’t really paying attention.”

Deegan jokingly deflected an earlier question with the response that he wasn’t paying attention during the incident.

“He’s my teammate, but he’s a veteran, he’s been in this sport for a while,” Deegan said. “I was up there just battling. I want to win as much as everybody else. It doesn’t matter if it’s a heat race or a main; I just want to win. I was just trying to push that.”

As Deegan and Smith battled, Jeremy Martin took the lead. Deegan finished second in the heat and backed up his performance with a solid third-place showing in the main, which was his second podium finish in a short six-race career. Deegan’s first podium was earned at Daytona, just two rounds ago.

But as Deegan struggled to find something meaningful to say, unsurprisingly for a 17-year-old rider who was not scheduled to run the full 250 schedule this year, it was the championship leader Lawrence who came to his defense.

“I just want to point something out, which kind of amazes me,” Lawrence said during the conference. “So many of the people on social media, where everyone puts their expertise in, are saying the racing back in the ’80s, the early 90s, when me were men. They’re always talking about how gnarly it was and then anytime a block pass or something happens now, everyone cries about it.

“That’s just a little bit interesting. Pick one. You want the gnarly block passes from 10 years ago and then you get it, everyone makes a big song and dance about it.”

Pressed further, Lawrence defended not only the pass but the decision-making process that gets employed lap after lap in a Supercross race.

“It’s easy to point the finger,” Lawrence said. “We’re out there making decisions in a split millisecond. People have all month to pay their phone bill and they still can’t do that on time.

“We’re making decisions at such a fast reaction [time with] adrenaline. … I’m not just saying it for me or Haiden. I speak for all the guys. No one is perfect and we’re under a microscope out there. The media is really quick to point a finger when someone makes a mistake.”

The media is required to hold athletes accountable for their actions. They are also required to tell the complete story.

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