Pirelli motorsport boss Paul Hembery has warned any change to allow a free tyre choice in 2016 needs to consider the safety implications.
Following a meeting of the Strategy Group last week it was announced the teams are keen to be able to select any two tyre compounds from Pirelli’s range from 2016 onwards. However, Pirelli was not asked to investigate the possibility of doing so before the announcement was made, and Hembery says the tyre manufacturer wants to ensure any change does not jeopardise safety.
“One was regarding the choice of compounds made by the teams and we’re working in that regard with Charlie [Whiting] and the FIA to come up with a proposal that meets that requirements, that gives us a level of safety in the choices made and also to provide something interesting for the fans,” Hembery said. “That’s ongoing but it looks positive, what we’ve seen so far.”
With the Strategy Group also wanting to reduce lap times by five or six seconds in 2017, Hembery says the tyre manufacturer would need more testing time to be able to understand how it can help.
“Going quicker? It depends on how you achieve that. Wider tyres would certainly help that. From a tyremakers point of view you’d want to know how you can contest that. We have limitations on testing today and if the cars are going to change dramatically you wouldn’t really want to end up in Jerez in February, in the winter trying to find out if it’s going to be workable solution or not. The principal is fine, there needs to be a little bit of work I’m sure done on the practicalities.”
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