Pirelli urges Formula One to relax current testing rules

Source:Reuters-Global Times Published: 2013-5-14 23:33:03

Formula One must allow in-season testing to avoid the risk next year of tires lasting only a handful of laps and races being cut short, according to Pirelli motorsport director Paul Hembery.

Under fire for the quick-wearing 2013 compounds that led to a blizzard of pit stops in Spain on Sunday, Hembery warned that a current testing ban made it harder for the Italian company to meet significant technical challenges coming in 2014.

He raised the possible scenario of a race "where you literally can only do five or six laps on every single option that we bring because we've totally underestimated the impact [of the new regulations]."

"I don't think we'll have an issue with structural integrity but we could end up certainly with a compounding issue where we have completely the wrong compounds for the track or what's going to be the influence of the powertrain on the tire," Hembery told Reuters.

"There are championships, less visible than F1, where those sorts of things have happened and you've ended up having to take 10 laps off the race distance and things like that."

Team managers held a sporting working group meeting at the Spanish Grand Prix and voted to maintain a ban on in-season testing.

Pirelli currently have a 2010 Renault, up to five seconds a lap slower than current cars, for testing. They are expected to continue as sole tire supplier in 2014, although a deal has yet to be signed.

"We have absolutely no in-season testing, we can't have access to these cars going around now and have to run around in a 2010 car. It's all right to sit there and criticize but you're not exactly given the tools to do a precise job," a defensive Hembery said at the weekend as criticism mounted.

Sunday's race in Barcelona put Pirelli even more in the spotlight with four pit stops turning out to be the norm and a number of failures in practice and in the race that saw treads coming away from the tires.

Pirelli went more aggressive with the tires this year and have now agreed to change both the structure and compounds to make them last longer and reduce the number of pit stops.

A spokeswoman said Tuesday that the modifications could be made from Canada, race seven of 19, next month rather than the end of June.

Hembery said Pirelli had different reasons and need to test with current cars, both now and in future.


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