Pirelli Launches 2012 F1 Tyres Range: Promises More Excitement and Entertainment

After an extremely successful 2011 on the track, Pirelli Tyres is now ready with its brand new range for this year. The company has promised to make the F1 races less predictable and more exciting with their new range of tyres.

The new range for 63rd FIA World Championship was presented by Pirelli at the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi.

The Details of the New Range

The current F1 regulations with respect to blown exhausts reduce the impact of the aerodynamic downforce on tyres. So the tyres require a more even and wider range of contact with the track to provide optimal performance.

Hence, the new Pirelli tyres have a more squarish profile as compared to the ones we saw last year. Also the rubber compounds used are more competitive and softer so as to offer a more consistent degradation. However, 2-3 pit stops will be needed, as before.

The surprise, however was in the branding. Reminiscent of a ‘blast from the past’, Pirelli has reinstated the ‘Cinturato’ brand name from the 1950s for its intermediate and wet tyres.

About Brand Cinturato

The Cinturato that derives its name from the radial belt (or cintura in Italian) that surrounds the tyre carcass first made its appearance in 1951, winning Juan Manuel Fangio the championship that year.

For its debut win, the Cinturato was fitted on Fangio’s Alfa159. The tyre retired from the track in the mid 50s and was then seen in sporting cars meant for road driving.

The New 2012 F1 Range

At the launch press conference, Mr. Marco Tronchetti Provera, Pirelli President and CEO said the extremely successful P Zero range from last year had been worked on by Pirelli engineers to further optimize the profile and compounds to guarantee better and more stable performances.

He added that a component of deliberate degradation had been added to improve the performance even further. Mr. Provera reiterated Pirelli’s commitment towards offering greater value to F1 teams in the future too.

For the 2012 season, the new softer compounds in the P zero range will ensure a longer performance peak that is sure to add more excitement to the races, as promised by Pirelli. With regard to the Cinturato range, the wet tyre – the Cinturato Blue- incorporates a new compound, while in the intermediate version titled the Cinturato Green, the compound remains unaltered.

The Unique Pirelli Racing Tyre System (RTS)

The unique RTS system of Pirelli offers a platform to Pirelli engineers to record and track performance of the new range.

This is important, because the information will be shared with the F1 teams and management. Right from the point of manufacture at the Izmit factory, the RTS will input all details of the tyres, creating a sort of individual passport for each tyre.

As the tyres arrive at the circuit and are fitted on the cars, information like the tyre temperature, pressure and wear rate continue to get updated on the system and will be available for analysis in real time to Pirelli’s research team and the F1 team management.

The new tyres will debut at Jerez on February 7th, the first official test in the 2012 F1 season.

This article is written by expert Chris J Dutton who has 17 years industry experience and writes news, content and press releases. If you would like to make contact with Chris then you can do so by Email and also see Chris's Google+ profile or contact customer services for any other query.