F1: Pirelli wants "safe" solutions

Pirelli has vowed to continue working to achieve the best results for Formula 1 following the FIA's surprise announcement about 2016 tire choice rules.

The motorsports world governing body revealed on Friday an initial series of measures designed to improve the F1 spectacle had been agreed upon for further deliberation by the F1 Commission. One proposal is that from 2016 teams can choose any two of the four dry compounds currently made available by Pirelli – super-soft, soft, medium and hard – ahead of each grand prix.

At present, Pirelli – which was not in attendance at Thursday's Strategy Group meeting in London's Biggin Hill – controls the selection of two compounds per race based on all the relevant data available at that time.

In light of the decision taken by the Strategy Group, Pirelli motorsport director Paul Hembery told AUTOSPORT: "We've duly noted it. As ever Pirelli will work with the teams and FIA to find solutions to problems that are safe and deliver the required results."

Hembery felt it prudent to be pragmatic on this occasion given the Strategy Group decision came as something of a surprise. Speaking to AUTOSPORT last week during the Spanish Grand Prix, he was far more critical of such a proposal, believing it to be an unwise route for F1 to head down.

At that time, Hembery said: "If you start opening up choices this is what will happen: firstly, the top teams will centralize around the same choices because they use the same ideas and data we would be using. Then there would be some people that would want to risk a little more, and then there would be some people who would want to be a little reckless.

"That means they would be taking a product into a situation that would create a safety problem, and if there is a safety problem then we cannot accept that risk, so it is impossible. That is even before we get into the logistical problems and extreme cost it would involve to do such a thing.

"It's more important to look at, 'Why would you want to do something like that?' and, 'What are you trying to solve?' rather than suggesting a change without analyzing what you are trying to achieve."

Originally on Autosport.com