Pirelli aims to change hard tire
Tires have been a focal point of 2011 so far after Pirelli was asked to develop less durable compounds in order to open up the possibilities for more exciting races. The move has worked, as teams have been able to adopt different strategies in their approaches to races, and the differences in tire condition have seen more overtaking taking place.
Pirelli's motorsport director Paul Hembrey, however, says that the tire manufacturer feels that the hard tire does not last long enough. Having tested a harder compound during practice for Malaysia, he said another version would be used on Friday in Turkey with a view to it becoming the new hard compound.
"Unfortunately the tire itself wasn't tested in any way and form as much as we wanted to [in Malaysia]," Hembery told Manipe F1. "It's essentially a replacement for the current hard tire to give two or three more laps tire life than we have and less degradation, but the teams didn't test it to the extent that we wanted to.
We're going to test something that's in family with that in Turkey, if it doesn't rain on Friday. If it works in Turkey on Friday and we're happy with the results, we'll discuss it with the FIA and we'll introduce it from Barcelona onwards as the hard compound replacement." ESPN F1