Paul Hembery: We've had a very positive reaction from the drivers and teams so far, who have reported more grip at the rear, fewer 'marbles' and a reduced lap time difference between the compounds as well as faster overall performance – which is precisely what we wanted.
Pirelli's motorsport director Paul Hembery has said the tyre supplier is 'on course to meet its objectives' for F1 2012 following the first pre-season this week.
Pirelli supplied 1176 tyres for the four-day test held at the
Jerez circuit in the south of Spain and in the end a total of 3380 laps were covered by the 23 drivers in action - equating to 14,949 kilometres.
The new P Zero White medium tyre completed the most running in Spain with 1776 laps run (91 sets used), followed by the new P Zero Yellow soft with 1010 laps run (57 sets used) and the P Zero Silver hard with 594 laps run (33 sets used).
Although the new Pirelli Cinturato Green intermediate tyres and Pirelli Cinturato Blue tyres were brought to Spain, neither compound was used as the weather stayed dry.
“The tyres performed exactly in line with our expectations here in Jerez,” said Hembery. “We've had a very positive reaction from the drivers and teams so far, who have reported more grip at the rear, fewer 'marbles' and a reduced lap time difference between the compounds as well as faster overall performance – which is precisely what we wanted.
“We're happy with the level of degradation and we had no issues, as was the case for all of last year.
“But as the temperatures in
Jerez were very low and the teams have also concentrated on other areas than tyres [with most having launched brand new cars], it's too early to draw any detailed conclusions.
“We'll see more tyre development work at the next test in Barcelona, as together with the teams, we fully understand the implications of the latest rules. However, with all three of our available slick tyres having set a fastest time, it's a clear sign that we are on course to meet our objectives.”
