Pirelli Tag

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief AUSTIN, Texas – Kimi Raikkonen admitted enjoyment in humbling his doubters after claiming victory in the United States Grand Prix on Sunday at Circuit of the Americas. The 39-year-old Finn started from second and charged ahead of pole sitter Lewis Hamilton entering Turn 1 on the opening lap. While highly debated in moment, the one-stop strategy from Ferrari proved enough as Raikkonen was able to fend off a charging Max Verstappen and Hamilton in a thrilling finish. The win marked the 21st of Raikkonen’s career, butRead More

By Adam Tate, Associate Editor Sauber reserve driver and Ferrari junior Antonio Giovinazzi set the headline time today at the Hungaroring when he slapped a set of hypersofts on his SF71H and broke Sebastian Vettel’s track record by over half a second. His 1:15.648 lap was two and a half seconds faster than second place man Marcus Ericsson in the Sauber C37, but it was overshadowed by our first look at what the new 2019 front wings will look like. Red Bull, Force India and Williams all brought prototype front wingsRead More

By Adam Tate, Associate Editor Formula 1 announced today that the sport plans to introduce 18 inch wheels and a new tire specification for 2021. The plan for 18 inch wheels has been brought up several times in recent seasons, Pirelli even produced a demonstration set, as opposed to the current 13 inch wheels F1 has used for over 20 years. Front tires will decrease in width from 305 down to 270 mm. While the rear tires will maintain their current width of 405 mm, they will increase in diameter fromRead More

By Adam Tate, Associate Editor The Monaco Grand Prix was by no means a classic, but now that it has come to light just how close Daniel Ricciardo’s Red Bull was to failing, the Australian’s win is all the more impressive and is surely one of the most impressive victories in recent history. The highlights below cover all the main points of the race, from Ricciardo’s supreme race management, to the tire woes that helped keep his rivals at bay. If you caught the race, consider this your next week refresherRead More

By Adam Tate, Associate Editor The season opening Australian Grand Prix gave us more questions than answers to start the 2018 season. This weekend in Bahrain F1 fans will hope for a clearer running order and less mysterious proceedings. Has Mercedes advantage over the rest of the field grown? Can Ferrari’s straight line speed and penchant for hot conditions give them the edge? What is the true pace of Red Bull? Is the pace of Haas for real? All these questions will be answered as the hot Sakhir sun slips belowRead More

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief Pirelli has revealed the tire selections for Formula 1 teams ahead of next week’s season-opening Australian Grand Prix. The Italian manufacturer and exclusive tire supplier for F1 has added both the Hypersoft and Superhard compounds for 2018. However, the event at Albert Park in Melbourne will see the Ultrasoft, Supersoft and Soft rubber combinations, with each team allowed to choose 10 of 13 sets. McLaren, Mercedes and Williams have chosen nine sets of the Ultrasofts, while Ferrari and Renault have elected for seven. Renault, along withRead More

By FIA Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel set the quickest time of day two of the first pre-season Formula 1 test in Barcelona, outpacing Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas by three tenths of a second. McLaren’s Stoffel Vandoorne finished third on the timesheet a further three tenths back. The day began in muted fashion as overnight snow and rain meant conditions were tricky early on and many teams avoided significant running before the halfway point of running. One of those was Red Bull Racing, with the Milton Keynes team being restricted to the garageRead More

By Adam Tate, Associate Editor Pirelli’s new hypersoft tires, which Lewis Hamilton called, “Pirelli’s best tire since returning to F1,” won’t make their debut until the fourth race of 2018 in Baku, Azerbaijan. The Italian Tire manufacturer has unveiled their compound selection for the first three Grands Prix of 2018 and the softest compound in their range did not make the cut, despite the first race of the season, the Australian Grand Prix taking place on a street circuit. For Australia, Pirelli will bring the soft, super-soft and ultra-soft tires. ForRead More

By Adam Tate, Associate Editor Formula One’s bigger, wider cars of 2017 produced the most downforce the sport has ever seen. That, coupled with the wider, more durable Pirelli tires lead to a massive decrease in overtaking which plummeted 47% compared to 2016 according to Pirelli. The excessive turbulent air of the high downforce cars is well known and Ross Brawn is working on a solution with the 2021 regulations, but it along with the rather dull season finale in Abu Dhabi have lead to an increased focus on the circuitsRead More

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief Sebastian Vettel topped the timesheets for the Pirelli tire test at Yas Marina Circuit on Wednesday. The final time Formula 1 cars will be on track for 2017, Vettel concluded the day with a time of 1 minute, 37.551 seconds on the new hypersoft tire compound at the 3.451-mile, 21-turn track. The early part of the day was halted by the four-time champion as his Ferrari stopped on track to bring out a red flag briefly before resuming. Mercedes rival Valtteri Bottas, who also won theRead More