Breaking news
Formula 1
Pirelli 'ultrasoft' will only be used on street circuits
Formula 1 tyre supplier Pirelli says the new "ultrasoft" compound will only be used on street circuits during the 2016 season.
Pablo Elizalde
Edited: Nov 24, 2015, 2:36 PM
Copy link
Share on Viber
The Italian manufacturer plans to expand its tyre range for next year in order to have greater flexibility when choosing compounds for the grands prix.
The ultrasoft will join the supersoft, soft, medium and hard compounds.
Pirelli's supersoft tyres have been used in just six races this year: Monaco, Canada, Austria, Singapore, Russia and Abu Dhabi.
Hembery says the ultrasoft may have even more limited use.
"It's only for the street circuits because as we saw in Monaco and in Singapore the wear levels are very low at the moment," said Hembery.
"Cars are sliding less and the change we made is a boost in terms of wear levels.
"Maybe too much, but with the lack of testing we're not being able to make any further changes to the product so we're living with that we have because the cars will be quicker next year.
"Every year they improve, so what was okay last year may be quite dramatically different next year."
Read Also:
- Pirelli: Abu Dhabi F1 test "not nearly enough"
He added: "The idea is to get two or three pitstops and the compounds next year will be the same as we have this year, plus one as I mentioned, so is not going to be dramatically different.
"Although we're trying to change the internal part of the tyre to create a cliff after certain number of laps which will force teams into making a change.
"But that's not the same we had in the past in terms of degradation. We need to experiment and see if delivers what we expect."
In order to give teams more flexibility with their tyre choices, Pirelli is planning to select three compounds for each grand prix and then allow teams to choose how many of each they want.
Hembery says the final details of the plan will be announced in December.
"In this scenario each team can decide what will be their best compound," he explained. "So it takes the responsibility away from Pirelli and it makes the responsibility for the teams."
Interview by Federico Faturos
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Formula 1 teams meet to decide what engines will power F1 in future
Next article Lewis Hamilton: "As a kid I wanted to be Superman not Ayrton Senna"
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Pablo Elizalde
Alpine becomes Pramac's main partner in MotoGP
MotoGP
MotoGP Jan 27, 2025
Alpine becomes Pramac's main partner in MotoGP
Liberty Media's $4bn MotoGP deal facing EU probe
MotoGP
MotoGP Dec 14, 2024
Liberty Media's $4bn MotoGP deal facing EU probe
Ocon wants answers to understand pace slump against Alpine team-mate
Formula 1
Formula 1 Nov 27, 2024
Ocon wants answers to understand pace slump against Alpine team-mate
Latest news
Carson Hocevar and Cleetus McFarland win LeMullets 2026 in epic finish
General
Misc General 27 min
Carson Hocevar and Cleetus McFarland win LeMullets 2026 in epic finish
TV ratings released for NASCAR Cup season finale
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Homestead-Miami
6 h
TV ratings released for NASCAR Cup season finale
Chase Elliott's car chief leaves Hendrick for NASCAR Truck crew chief role
NASCAR Truck
NSTR NASCAR Truck
Homestead
7 h
Chase Elliott's car chief leaves Hendrick for NASCAR Truck crew chief role
Feature
Discover prime content
Top 10 F1 cars of the 1970s
Formula 1
By Kevin Turner
Top 10 F1 cars of the 1970s
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe