F1 | Pirelli gives space to hard tyres on Silverstone’s corners

After Spain and Austria, Formula 1 arrives at the last appointment of this triptych that has tested not only the cars, but also technicians and members of the various teams. The Circus returns to its cradle, the United Kingdom, more precisely to Silverstone, where its history began 74 years ago.

The English event, among other things, represents the halfway point of the world championship, being the twelfth of the twenty-four stages of the 2024 championship. The season was naturally characterized by the successes of Max Verstappen, but in the last races McLaren has shown that it has grown, reaching the point of fighting for victories.

Interestingly, Silverstone comes at a special time, because the British track is the king of fast corners, the type of corners where the two top teams have a competitive advantage. The circuit features 18 corners and, at 5,861 meters, is one of the longest in the entire world championship calendar: only Spa-Francorchamps (7.004 km), Jeddah (6.175 km), Las Vegas (6.120 km) and Baku (6.003 km) surpass it.

It is one of the most fascinating and challenging tracks, especially for the car-tyre package. Some combinations of corners, such as the one formed by Maggotts, Becketts and Chapel, are taken at high speed and generate lateral forces on the tyres and drivers exceeding 5g, so it is not surprising that the feeling with the car is fundamental for a driver.

Precisely because of the high loads generated on the tyres in these fast corners, it is now a tradition for Pirelli to bring the hardest compounds in the range, so that the tyres can support the energy values ​​transmitted. This year too, therefore, the Italian company has chosen the C1 as the P Zero hard, the C2 as the P Zero medium and the C3 as the P Zero soft. The front axle is the most stressed and the prevalence of right-hand corners makes the front left the tyre most subject to wear.

The English summer is always characterised by a high variability of weather conditions and this is a factor to always take into account, also because the changes can be very sudden. The arrival of rain is always around the corner and this can radically change a session or even the running of the Grand Prix, reshuffling the cards on the table.

Last year the race was held entirely on a dry track, with the Soft being a somewhat surprising protagonist: only two teams did not use it. The most used compound was however the Medium, with which half of the total mileage was completed. Despite the high loads, it was still possible to complete the race with a single pit-stop strategy, although in the past two stops have often been preferred.