F1: Pirelli plans F1 tire choice revamp

Pirelli is considering introducing extra variations within its current Formula 1 tire compound range in a bid to improve the show. The idea is initially dependent on the Italian manufacturer being awarded a new supply contract, with its current deal expiring after 2016 and the FIA's tender process ongoing.

Pirelli wants to answer complaints it has veered from its original brief of two- to three-stop grands prix, down to one or two at present.

The plan is Pirelli will retain its current range of dry tires – hard, medium, soft and super-soft – but within each compound there will be options, likely as many as three, so it can fine-tune tire selections for each circuit's characteristics. The present tire labelling system would remain.

"It's something very hard to do, but if we are to remain in the sport for '17 we could really look at doing something like this," Pirelli motorsport chief Paul Hembery told AUTOSPORT. "If we were able to choose from a wider range, then we'd have more certainty to deliver the two-to-three-stop races.

"As far as the public is concerned it would be a hard and a medium tire, let's say, at a certain type of race. But we would be able to choose from three versions of the hard and three versions of the medium. Or to be more current, the super-soft we've just seen in Monaco and Canada would be quite different to the super-soft you would see in Singapore.

"To the outside world, though, it is simply a super-soft tire because four compounds is more than enough. For the public, I don't think we need to do anything different as it would just create confusion. It would be too complex.

"The fans have only just got used to what they see now. They like the colors – they get that and they are quite easy to see. That works, so you don't really want to create any more variation on that."

F1's Strategy Group has mooted giving teams free choice of tire compounds at each grand prix in 2016, a proposal Pirelli is against.

A return to refueling would also open up new avenues for Pirelli, although following a meeting of F1's team managers with FIA technical delegate Charlie Whiting in Montreal last week there is no appetite for it to happen.

Despite that, Hembery added: "If we go to refueling, which is another topic going around and has been discussed a few times, again we could also take a different approach. We could be very aggressive if you know someone is going to be doing a fixed number of laps every time."

Originally on Autosport.com