Pirelli’s preliminary evaluation of tyres utilized in follow at Components 1’s 2024 Qatar Grand Prix has revealed no proof that the issues that blighted final yr’s race will probably be repeated.
F1’s sporting guidelines for the 2023 Qatar GP needed to be altered so a one-off mandated three-stop race would happen on the Losail circuit after harm was found in tyres used on lengthy runs earlier that weekend.
It was feared this harm may result in potential tyre failures at a really high-speed format and so the race – finally received by Crimson Bull’s Max Verstappen – came about with prescribed most stint lengths of 18 laps to minimise the protection threat.
Pirelli usually checks three or 4 units of randomly chosen tyres after every follow session for security evaluation, which entails reducing sections of sidewall and the primary floor tread and checking the layers inside for the microscopic separations within the sidewalls between the topping compounds and the carcass cords that had been detected right here final yr.
After the only follow session in Qatar this time, Pirelli doubled that checking unfold to eight units and to date the Italian producer is glad the adjustments made to spherical off the highest of the ‘pyramid’ kerbs put in right here final yr, in addition to a lot decrease temperatures this time round, have lowered the stress on the tyres.
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“Based mostly on what occurred final yr, we checked a few of the tyres from FP1,” mentioned Pirelli chief engineer Simone Berra. “For the time being, we didn’t see what now we have seen final yr.
“So, plainly all of the modifications now we have made along with the help from F1 and the FIA had an affect, which is one thing constructive. We’re actually pleased with that.
“We simulated the brand new CAD geometry [of the tyres] with the trip on the kerbs and the outcomes we discovered are according to what we are actually experiencing on observe.”
However with stint lengths in FP1 on a dash weekend restricted in size as a consequence of its time constraint, the largest pre-GP check for the tyres in Qatar stays the occasion’s dash race, which can happen over 19 laps
Mercedes’ trackside engineering director, Andrew Shovlin, mentioned on Friday that “hopefully the work Pirelli have performed with the circuit to change the kerbs, with their simulations, means we don’t have a scenario like final yr the place immediately you might have prescribed stint lengths”.
However, Shovlin added: “The primary good information for that’s going to return from the dash race.”
Nonetheless, Pirelli is inspired that it has to date not encountered the “indicators” one thing was already amiss with its tyres at this stage within the 2023 occasion.
“Clearly, we’ll see the outcomes after the dash, which is extra consultant of longer runs – extra mileage, pushing, battling, combating,” mentioned Berra.
“We could have a definitive reply tomorrow, however for the second it’s totally constructive as a result of final yr at the moment we already had some indicators about potential points on the tyres.”
Extra reporting by Jonathan Noble and Stuart Codling.
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Alex Kalinauckas
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