Last Sunday’s Monaco Grand Prix marked the first time that Pirelli equipped a Formula 1 tyre specification that doesn’t require the use of tyre heaters. F1Technical’s Balázs Szabó reviews on the introduction of Pirelli’s brand-new full wet tyres.
Continuing his spectacular type and strengthening his championship lead, Red Bull’s Max Verstappen gained the Monaco Grand Prix with Aston Martin driver Fernando Alonso securing his finest end since the 2014 Hungarian Grand Prix with a second-place end. Alpine driver Esteban Ocon took third place, securing his third F1 podium end.
With rain having been anticipated for Sunday, groups had been effectively conscious that they should pay explicit consideration to the circumstances as sudden change may happen at any level of the grand prix. The 78-lap Monaco spherical began in dry circumstances with groups choosing slick tyres, albeit there was a wide selection in phrases of compound at the begin of the race. Mercedes, Alpine, McLaren, Alfa Romeo, and Haas all fitted their two automobiles with different compounds, selecting the medium or the arduous compound. The solely driver to begin on the P Zero Red tender was Alfa Romeo driver Guanyu Zhou, however he additionally stopped after only one lap to suit the arduous tyres.
When it got here to the slick tyre utilization, it was Haas driver Kevin Magnussen, who accomplished the longest stint on the C3 arduous tyres with 56 laps whereas the quickest lap on that compounds belonged to Lewis Hamilton. On the yellow-sided mediums, Max Verstappen accomplished his longest run, however Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc set the quickest lap with a 1m15.773s.
Although Zhou Guanyu began on the red-walled tender compound, he switched to hards at the finish of the first lap, leaving Williams driver Logan Sargeant to finish greater than a racing lap. The Florida-born driver racked up 29 consecutive laps on the softest compound in Pirelli’s vary along with his finest lap being a 1m17.302s.
While rain was looming all throughout the race, it solely arrived in the remaining section of the 69th Monaco Grand Prix, inflicting the asphalt temperatures to drop sharply from 41°C to 27°C whereas the ambient temperature fluctuated between 28 and 23°C.
It was Valtteri Bottas who first dived into the pits for intermediate tyres on Lap 51 earlier than the majority of the area following swimsuit inside the subsequent 4 laps.
Commenting on the Monaco Grand Prix, Pirelli’s Motorsport Director Mario Isola mentioned: “The Monaco weekend was stuffed with feelings, each for the folks watching the race in individual and these following it at house on TV and on-line.
“When it was dry, the race was a chess sport between those that began on the mediums and those that opted for the hards: really, a larger quantity of drivers than we had anticipated heading into the race. Just one individual, Guanyu Zhou, went for the softs at the begin. As is usually the case in Monaco, it was at first a query of seeing who made the finest of the visitors to search out the proper time to make the decisive transfer and pit.
“But then there was the unsure climate, with the rain that everyone knew was coming however no person anticipated to be fairly so heavy. All this added as much as a race that was extraordinarily troublesome to handle with out making errors. The first stint on the medium was for much longer than anticipated: not solely did Verstappen full 55 laps on this compound, however each AlphaTauri drivers did 53 laps, whereas Lando Norris did 50.
On this monitor particularly, tyre administration, even with graining, needed to be carried out in accordance with visitors and climate circumstances – as was undoubtedly the case as we speak.”
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The sport is seeking to ban the use of the tyre heaters from the begin of the 2024 season, though this step appears to be not as easy as it might take a look at first. Tyre blankets have been half of the sport since Nineteen Eighties.
There had been already makes an attempt to part out the tyre heaters in 2015 for prices causes, however the sport in the end abanded the concepts on security grounds.
However, Pirelli has been working for a few years now to get rid of the tyre blankets. However, drivers who had been in a position to take a look at slick tyres which don’t require pre-heating, had been very crucial regarding the security facet of the new tyres. Pirelli has not deserted the concept and has already made a first step by decreasing tyre blanket temperature to 70°C from the earlier maximums of 100°C (entrance) and 80°C (rear) for the 2022 F1 season.
The Milan-based tyre provider tried to go a step additional for this 12 months by additional decreasing the temperature to 50 levels. However, after this was trialed throughout the second observe session of final 12 months’s United States Grand Prix, drivers had been sad and envisioned attainable questions of safety.
Pirelli subsequently got here up with one other concept for the following race in Mexico, elevating the most temperature again to 70 levels, however decreasing the pre-heating interval to 2 hours as an alternative of three. With this checks proved beneficial with drivers, the Italian tyre producer determined to hold via the new process into 2023.
At Monte Carlo, Pirelli has made one other necessary step in direction of the introduction of tyres that don’t require the use of tyre heaters by debuting their brand-new Cinturato Blue Full Wet tyre. The authentic plan was to introduce the new wet tyre at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, albeit the cancellation of the Imola race meant that its introduction was postponed by a race.
With the Monaco Grand Prix ending in wet circumstances, Pirelli was in a position to debut their new wet tyres following profitable checks performed earlier in 2023. Three drivers opted to make use of the new wet tyres at Monaco with Kevin Magnussen receiving them on Lap 56, finishing a 14-lap stint.
Expecting extra rain in the dying minutes of the race, Sergo Perez dived into the pits for a new set of wet climate tyres on the following lap, utilizing them for 13 laps.
Haas driver Nico Hulkenberg began to make use of the new wet climate specification on Lap 59 and racked up a complete of 17 laps on them. Of the three drivers, the German was quickest, clocking in a time of 1m32.994s with Perez recording his personal finest with a 1m35.708s and Magnussen setting an personal benchmark with a time of 1m37.778.
Commenting on the debut of the new excessive wet climate tyres, Isola added: “Just like a 12 months in the past, all 5 varieties of tyre dropped at Monaco had been used, with the new specification of wet tyre – which doesn’t require blankets – making its debut.
“First impressions of its performance seem in line with expectations, although you obviously can’t really compare Monaco with anywhere else,” mentioned Isola.
Interestingly, all 5 compounds had been in motion yesterday which is a actual rarity in a race. The changeable climate meant that Monaco has change into to first spherical in 2023 to characteristic all three dry climate tyres and the two wet climate tyres.
In phrases of quantity of different compounds, it was Logan Sargeant and Sergio Perez to finish the most colourful races with each of them utilizing 4 different compound throughout the Monaco Grand Prix. The American driver used all three dry climate compound, beginning the race on the mediums earlier than switching to the hards and the softs and ending the 78-lap race on the intermediates.
The Mexican racer began the race on the yellow-banded medium earlier than switching to the hards at the finish of the opening lap. He then switched to intermediates earlier than choosing the full wet climate tyres, however he ended the races on the green-sided intermediates.
