From the Nurburgring in Germany, the teams head to a completely contrasting venue for the Hungarian Grand Prix: the final race before the summer break. Pirelli brings the P Zero White medium and P Zero Yellow soft compounds to the Hungaroring, close to Budapest.
This is actually the same nomination as last year, but with the compounds being softer this year, there is even more performance.
The construction of the tyres has changed as well, with the 2012 structure matched with the 2013 compounds. These tyres were successfully tested at Silverstone last week, with the teams collecting plenty of data that will be useful for the future.
Conditions at the Hungaroring are normally hot and sunny, which increases the work for the tyres. However, average speeds are low at the tight and twisty Hungaroring, which affects the usual pattern of wear and degradation. Rain is not unknown however, so as usual Pirelli will bring the Cinturato Green intermediates and Cinturato Blue full wets as well.
Paul Hembery: “Hungary marks the first event for our latest specification P Zero tyres, which consist of the 2012 construction matched to the 2013 compounds. These tyres were tried out by the teams at Silverstone during the young driver test, who benefitted from the opportunity to adapt the set-up of their cars to best suit the new tyres. Now they get to use them in competition for the first time, and with qualifying particularly important at the Hungaroring, the work done in free practice will be very important. Overtaking at this circuit is never an easy task, so the teams will be looking to use strategy to maximize their opportunities to gain track position. The selection of medium and soft tyres should provide plenty of chances to help them do that, based on the data that all the teams gain with different fuel loads in free practice. Temperatures in Hungary can be very high, and this is the other factor on which the levels of wear and degradation experienced will depend. Traction and braking are two critical aspects of tyre performance in Hungary, with the teams running a set-up designed to emphasize these key areas. With levels of lateral energy relatively low, tyre performance rather than durability will be the limiting factor and this will form the basis of the strategy selected – with the teams aiming to keep the tyres within the peak window of operating performance for as long as possible. The design of our latest tyres should help them to do this.”
The circuit from a tyre point of view:
The Hungaroring is a permanent circuit built in 1986 but in many ways its characteristics are similar to those of a street circuit. It’s a tight and twisty track with 14 corners and an average speed in the region of 180kph: this makes it the second-slowest circuit of the year after Monaco. The cars actually spend a lower proportion of the lap on full throttle than they do even in Monaco. Ten of the 14 corners are taken at 155kph or lower.
The circuit is not extensively used for many other races during the year, which means that the surface is often ‘green’ at the start of the weekend. As more cars run through the track a clean line emerges, but because there is only one clear line around the narrow circuit, a lot of dirt, dust and marbles accumulate off the racing line, making the problem of overtaking even harder.
The large number of narrow corners and big steering inputs mean that the edges of the tyres are subjected to peaks of temperature and wear. The tyres can sometimes overheat more on a slow and twisty track than on a fast and flowing track.
Technical tyre notes:
The Hungaroring requires a high-downforce set-up, as the cars are on full throttle for only around 10 seconds over the course of the 4.381 kilometer lap.
The top three all selected two-stop strategies last year, although they used their tyre allocation in different ways. The top 10 on the grid all started on the soft tyre; the highest-placed starter on the medium tyre was Mark Webber in 11th, who finished the race eighth.
The performance gap between the medium and soft tyre is likely to be around a second per lap.
Meet the Pirelli F1 Team: Matt Watts, Tyre Fitter Team Leader
Matt, who has been with Pirelli’s Formula One operation from the beginning, is English and lives in Faringdon, not far from the company’s logistics hub in Didcot where he is based.
After leaving school he immediately specialized in the automotive sector, starting his career in motor vehicle body repair before moving into selling car parts and accessories. At this point he seemed set for a long-term career change as Matt then started managing bars and live music venues. So as he puts it himself, he came into Formula One “by mistake”.
In 1996 he was asked to take a truckload of tyres down to a test in Jerez. He enjoyed the experience and has been involved in Formula One tyres ever since. His first grand prix was Australia in 1997. He was soon converted to the joys of working in different places and has never looked back since…
His job consists of overseeing the team of 19 fitters that travels to each grand prix. He liaises between the engineering team and fitting crew, accommodating any special requests, and ensuring that the fitting service runs efficiently and smoothly at every race.
When Matt is at home – which is not that often – he enjoys spending time with his nine year-old son and catching up with the latest films and music. He used to go running, and although this has fallen by the wayside recently, he’s determined to get back into it. The regular track runners have been warned…
Other news from Pirelli:
Pirelli completed three days of young driver testing at Silverstone last week, with the regular race drivers allowed to take part as well. Reigning world champion Sebastian Vettel was fastest over the three days, while the fastest rookie was Carlos Sainz Junior. The Spaniard is the son of Carlos Sainz, who won two World Rally Championship titles with Pirelli in 1990 and 1992.
Skoda Italia driver Umberto Scandola won the latest round of the Italian Rally Championship, the all-gravel Rally San Marino. It was an all-Pirelli podium, with Giandomenico Basso and Mauro Trentin finishing second and third.
Pirelli has just launched a new range of ‘quiet’ tyres for Audi, with a special noise-absorbing insert that can reduce interior and exterior noise by 50%. The insert increases comfort, but does not affect any of the other high-performance characteristics of the tyre.
