Mario Isola says the teams will have to unravel some unknowns this weekend at Silverstone due to the recent resurfacing work around the current home of the British Grand Prix.
For a second consecutive year, Silverstone has had to be resurfaced, with complaints coming last year from Formula 1 drivers and MotoGP riders about the number of bumps around the track.
Pirelli Motorsport are bringing the three hardest compounds in their arsenal for this weekend’s race, with the C1 acting as the hard compound, the C2 as the medium and the C3 the soft. It is the third time in 2019 that this range has been used, with the same three compounds being previously run in both the Bahrain and Spanish races.
Isola, the Head of F1 and Car Racing at Pirelli, says the resurface work could see even faster lap times in 2019 than expected, but teams will need to be on the top of their game to understand the tyres early in free practice on Friday.
“The new asphalt has only been laid very recently, so it’s going to be interesting to see what the effect of this will be in competition,” said Isola. “It could make a circuit that is already fast even faster.
“We’re nominating effectively the same compound selection as we did last year, which should be well-suited to cornering demands that are among the highest of the year, along with places like Spa and Suzuka.
“With the new asphalt and famously variable British weather, there will definitely be a few unknowns heading into this year’s Silverstone race. This makes the exercise of data-gathering in free practice even more important than usual, in order to come up with the best strategy.”
