Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsPirelli

Hembery sceptical over tyre rule change

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Pirelli motorsport director Paul Hembery says there are a number of drawbacks to any potential change to tyre rules which would allow teams to choose their own compounds.

Following a suggestion from Force India to allow the teams to choose any two compounds from the four available in the Pirelli range - supersoft, soft, medium and hard - the BBC reports the proposal is being discussed by the FIA. However, Hembery says the idea would not lead to change from the Pirelli allocations for some teams and result to too many safety risks for others.

“There is a good reason why we make choices and it is based on a lot of data – surfaces, temperature ranges you can encounter during a weekend," Hembery told F1i. “Barcelona is a good example because over the last few years we’ve had races here with 18 degrees track temperature, and now we have 50, so you have to make sure you are covered for the worst condition.

“So if you start opening up choices there will be two things that will happen; the top teams will centralise around the same choices because they use the same ideas and data we would be using.

“Then there would be some people that would want to risk a little more, and then there would be some people who would want to be a little reckless.

“That means they would be taking a product into a situation that would create a safety problem, and if there is a safety problem then we cannot accept that risk, so it is impossible. That is even before we get into the logistical problems and extreme cost it would involve to do such a thing."

And Hembery says any potential changes need to be thoroughly analysed to ensure they are a relevant response to any issue the teams would like to tackle.

“It’s more important to look at ‘why would you want to do something like that’ and ‘what are you trying to solve’ rather than suggesting a change without analysing what you are trying to achieve.

“If there is a need to achieve something then we are happy to talk, but at the moment nobody has actually come to us with a proposal. If and when they do, as ever, we will always try and find a solution.”

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.