An amendment to the F1 sporting regulations announced today will allow Pirelli to evaluate new types of tyre at race meetings this season.
The World Motor Sport Council, who met in Paris this morning, have decreed that all teams could be supplied with an additional specification of dry weather tyre at selected tracks, which they can test during the two Friday practice sessions.
Another rule amendment approved today is the option for Pirelli to allocate an addition set of prime tyres at selected races. Teams would be informed of any change to the normal prescribed allocation at least a week before the start of that event.
“The latest amendments to the Sporting Regulations are simply another part of our pre-season preparations as we build up to our Grand Prix debut in just over two weeks time,” said Pirelli’s Motorsport Director Paul Hembery.
“We needed to put in place a mechanism within the regulations now to allow us to test new tyres in a competitive context this year if necessary, and it's great that we have this possibility open to us because we are already hard at work defining the specification of our tyres for the future.
“Without this potential opportunity we would be unable to test with a current car and would be relying solely on a previous generation vehicle, so it could be a good solution to the testing issue for both ourselves and the teams.”
“We're not sure how often or indeed if at all we are going to use these fresh opportunities,” he added. “But the effect is to open up our options by putting in place at an early stage some pre-determined processes before we get into the swing of the season.
“Both the teams and ourselves are having to take on a lot of data in a comparatively short space of time, so the latest tyre regulation amendments from the World Motor Sport Council could help to accelerate that learning process if required.”
