Impact of tyre changes should be 'fascinating' - Horner

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Red Bull team principal Christian Horner has said that the new tyre and downforce regulations for the 2017 Formula One world championship should provide a fascinating spectacle for teams and fans alike.

"It's going to be a great season," said Horner. "I'm sure the Mercedes and Ferrari teams are going to have a strong year ahead and we're going to try and push them hard.

"Hopefully we can have some fun along the way. Exciting times in Formula One at the moment, and hopefully we can put on a good show."

The new tyres to be supplied by Pirelli will see an increase of 25 per cent in width, and will have to cope with faster speeds and increased downforce of up to 20 per cent at Grand Prix events.

"2017 with the big regulation change is going to be a fascinating season to witness," said Horner.

"Tyres are going to be a key part of that - the new dimensions; the bigger, wider, more aggressive-looking tyres; new aerodynamics; the cars going four, five, six seconds a lap quicker - it's going to be a great spectacle for all the fans.

"Pirelli's involvement from the very first test that we were involved in last summer have really embraced this and I think Formula One is really going to benefit from the investment that Pirelli has made into the product for this year."

In a special video message to the Italian tyre manufacturers, Horner also saluted a significant milestone in the company's history.

"Congratulations on 110 years of Pirelli in competition, an incredible achievement and something you should be very proud of.

"We've enjoyed all our time working with Pirelli. Three of these cars behind me in what we call our hall of fame won world championships on Pirelli tyres - drivers and constructors in 2011, 12 and 13. We'd love to add to that.

"We're going to try and give Mercedes a hard time this year. I'm sure Ferrari are as well. Hopefully we can enjoy a really successful year of racing ahead of us."

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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.