F1 News
Pirelli hopes to avoid Silverstone scenario: 2021 tyre is a "clear step"
- GPblog.com
It was a recurring theme in 2020, Pirelli's tyres. In Silverstone there were several punctures, which raised the question of whether the tyres were good enough. Since then, Pirelli has been working hard to avoid similar problems and for the 2021 season, Pirelli expects all major problems to be solved.
"That’s obviously the target. We don’t want to have any tyre issue anywhere," Mario Isola explains to RaceFans. “Silverstone is a good reference because it’s a circuit with, I believe, the highest severity of the championship. But to quantify it, it’s a bit difficult because we have different tests with our indoor department to assess the level of integrity. So to give you a number is difficult."
Clear improvement to be seen
According to Isola, it is therefore difficult to design and test tyres in a factory, when they ultimately have to be used on the circuit. "We have some tests that are stressing the tyres for hours also and you can see quite a big difference in that. It’s important to understand how to translate indoor testing with the usage on track. Obviously what we try to do is to have different indoor tests that are testing that are replicating what happens on-track. A mirror of what happens on the track, that’s the final target of any indoor test."
Isola does see a big step that Pirelli has made for 2021, compared to 2020. "I saw some numbers what and I can tell you that is a clear step. It is visible. We are not talking about 5% or something like that, that is probably a small number. It is a clear step," concludes Isola.