Hembery: Formula One still 'a great fit' for Pirelli

Pirelli motorsport director Paul Hembery has welcomed the three-year extension of the company's exclusive deal to supply tyres to Formula One teams.

The news was broken at the Russian Grand Prix by the commercial rights holder Bernie Ecclestone and subsequently confirmed in an official press release from the French manufacturer

"Yes, that takes us through to '19," said a relieved Hembery earlier this week in Sochi. "Of course, where we are is that we've agreed the commercial deal, it has to go through to FIA ratification and the world council meeting in early December.

"But the FIA has already technically approved us as a supplier so it should just be a procedural process.

"We wanted to continue because Formula One is still the premium motorsport platform globally, there isn't anything even remotely close to it," he added. "With our positioning of the brand very much in the premium automotive world it's still a great fit for us."

With the contact extension now in place, Hembery is able to start looking forward again to what the teams need for the forthcoming seasons.

"The teams and the commercial rights holder want to get certainly to two or three pit stops again - we've been far too close to one this season in particular," he admitted. "There are a number of circumstances where the one-stop race - certainly in street circuits - is a little bit boring."

A boost in performance was also on the wishlist from the teams. "Two, three seconds [faster], that's another request. That's it really. It's really, 'Can we have two or three stops and help us get some of the performance so that we can start breaking some lap records again.'"

As for why more races have seen one-stop strategy attempts this season, Hembery denied that Pirelli had become over cautious in the wake of criticism following some mid-season tyre issues including Nico Rosberg's very public blow-out during free practice at Spa.

"The reality is I think that the teams are using the tyres far better so wear levels have come down,' Hembery explained.

"We made one internal change to the tyre which seems to allow wear levels reduce probably more than we - yes, definitely more than we anticipated because we haven't done any extended running outdoors on the track.

"That's been a factor as well, and that's something we'll try and do something going forward for next year."

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