New specification of slick tyre from Silverstone

Pirelli Motorsport has asked the FIA’s authorisation to introduce a new specification of slick tyre from the British Grand Prix at Silverstone (7-9 July) onwards. The request under article 10.8.3 of the Formula 1 technical regulations has now been approved.

The new specification introduces materials planned for 2024, with the move made necessary because of the increase in car performance – in terms of both speed and downforce – seen over the first few races compared to pre-season simulation data supplied by the teams. It’s also likely that this performance will increase still further over the rest of the season.

Pirelli’s Head of Motorsport, Mario Isola, said: “We’ve seen how much more performance the 2023 cars have compared to last year throughout the opening races of this season, and that is thanks to the extraordinary pace of development shown by all 10 of the teams. In Miami, for example, the pole time was nearly two seconds faster than last year, but the same sort of progress has been seen during races as well. Pirelli’s simulation work has always been aimed at not only supplying a product that hits the performance targets specified by stakeholders, but also anticipating any potential problems and reacting to them quickly. The new specification contains materials that we have already developed for 2024, which will make the tyres more resistant without affecting any of the other technical parameters or their behaviour on track. To allow all the teams to test the new construction on a level playing field, Pirelli will supply two extra tyre sets per car to be used during FP1 and FP2 at the Spanish Grand Prix.”