F1 | Pirelli evaluates a softer tire for the city GPs

The last Monaco Grand Prix, with a strategy effectively canceled after the red flag, reopened the issue of tires on the city tracks. Although the Principality circuit cannot rely on asphalt that guarantees a lot of grip, in reality the degradation has always been particularly limited.

Last Sunday, despite an extremely slow pace, at times even 3 or 4 seconds slower than the real one, almost all the drivers completed 76 laps with the same set of tyres, whether with the medium or hard compound. Those who stopped did so more for strategic reasons, having a window available with which to try to return to the pits to change tires and mount a cooler set with which to try to change the cards on the table. As the very few overtakings demonstrated, however, even this move was of little use.

To try to liven up the Grand Prix, drivers have suggested the possibility of having a softer compound than the current one specific for events like Monaco, so that there is even more accentuated degradation, forcing the need to make more stops.

Thanks also to the data obtained from the latest test with Ferrari at Paul Ricard at the beginning of the week, Pirelli is ever closer to defining the construction and compounds for next season. It is important to keep in mind, in fact, that the Milanese manufacturer has deadlines defined with the FIA ​​to define certain characteristics of its tyres.

A new C6 for citizens is being evaluated

The interesting aspect is that, as explained by Mario Isola, Pirelli is evaluating the introduction of a new C6 compound, which should be one step softer than the current one, adapting to a variety of city tracks. With the current configuration, the compounds designed by the Italian company, including the C5, must respond to a wide variety of scenarios. For example, although Jeddah has excellent asphalt which guarantees a lot of grip, on the other hand the tire must withstand all the high-speed corners scattered along the track, with significant longitudinal and lateral loads.

Compared to other tracks, Monaco has an asphalt that does not guarantee a high level of grip and, given its rather slow nature, there are few corners that transmit energy to the tyres. For this reason, the C5, the softest compound in the current range, must respond to completely different challenges which, however, do not necessarily adapt well to all circuits.

The C6 would enter precisely into this scenario, also addressing the growing number of city tracks in the world championship. In fact, in the first nine rounds of the world championship, including Canada, the C5 was nominated for four different GPs, including that of Emilia-Romagna as well as Australia and Monaco: “The idea is to also introduce a new C6 compound, one softer step, because we have more and more road circuits on the calendar and we need softer compounds. We will move the range a little on the soft side, always trying to reduce overheating,” said Mario Isola.

Probably in Monaco, given the difficulties in overtaking, even the introduction of a softer compound would not make a difference on a strategic level, because the teams would try to manage the pace to adopt the most convenient tactic. However, on other tracks, such as Las Vegas and Canada, this could open up new scenarios, perhaps pushing the race towards two stops.

Carlos Sainz, Ferrari SF-24

Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images

It’s a unique race where basically everything is decided on Saturday with qualifying, unless there is something unpredictable or strange. But for the rest of the road circuits, if we go softer, maybe we can change the approach a little and open up a two-stop strategy where we have one. I’m thinking of the other street circuits like Miami and Las Vegas, the new ones. It’s possible. But for Monaco, to be honest, I think there is very little that can be done,” Isola said.

Ideas to liven up Munich

The drivers also put forward other proposals to try to liven up the Monaco event, including the idea of ​​bringing only soft tires instead of the usual three compounds. From a certain point of view, Monte Carlo has always been unique and the difficulties in completing overtaking are part of the charm of the Principality circuit, which makes qualifying the real spectacle of the weekend.

Mario Isola explained that he would be happy to ask the teams for simulations to understand how the race would change by wearing only soft tyres, in order to have another reference to make their own assessments. However, the Pirelli manager is not convinced that this would radically change the spectacle on the track, as it would only push the teams towards even more accentuated tire management.

“I heard the proposal and talked about it with the riders. I think we can ask the teams to do a simulation and see what happens. But in 2018, when they fitted softer tyres, if I remember correctly, they lapped eight seconds slower compared to the potential pace, going at the pace of the F2”.

Precisely for this reason, having a softer compound for Monaco would not necessarily force the teams to make additional pit stops. Indeed, according to Isola the risk would be that the same theme seen on other tracks is already repeated, i.e. more marked management to save the time of a pit stop and maintain the track position.

“The problem in Monaco is that you can’t overtake, so you can slow down by 2/3/4 seconds a lap and no one can overtake you. The important thing, in my opinion, is to consider not only the tires, but also the reason why a team decides to stop or not. It is a combination of tire degradation, ease of overtaking and time taken for the pit stop. Imola is a good example, because if it takes 28 seconds for an additional pit stop, for which they try to do not do it”.

Isola also added another important point, namely that a minimum number of pit stops would not actually bring any added value to the race. Even with very soft tyres, the teams would tend to mark each other, most likely following the same strategies. “I remember many years ago when there was this proposal [di obbligare a due soste]we discussed and the teams asked their engineers to do a simulation.”

“The result was that everyone came back with more or less the same strategy. So by adding constraints, we’re not pushing them to have different strategies or different approaches to the race, but just to converge on the same tactic. And that’s not what What we want is a mix of one and two stops, with different compounds. To solve the problem we have to work together, sit down, consider all the proposals, do a simulation and understand what the best approach is.” For example, beyond the red flag that changed all the scenarios, last Sunday several drivers from fifth onwards had put on the hard tire to extend the first stint and hope for a Safety Car at the right time.