Formula One teams will use a brand-new, unraced soft compound Pirelli tyre in the Brazilian Grand Prix this weekend.
Drivers will have the choice of Pirelli’s soft and medium dry tyres over the course of the weekend, but the soft tyre will be a brand-new compound.
The tyre was tested by the teams during last week’s Abu Dhabi young driver test, and during Friday practice at the Nurburgring in July.
Also, drivers will get an extra two sets of an experimental hard tyre in Friday practice at Interlagos. These tyres have already been trialled by Lucas di Grassi and Pirelli’s Toyota TF109 car in private tests at Jerez and Barcelona. The new hard tyre is softer than the current-spec hard.
Pirelli’s motorsport director Paul Hembery says that allowing teams to trial the new spec tyres will give Pirelli a better understanding heading into the 2012 season.
“Preparations for the 2012 season are well underway, so it will be really interesting to hear the thoughts of the drivers about the new hard and soft tyres that we will be trying out in Brazil,” Hembery said.
“We’ve already collected plenty of information on the new soft tyre from the young driver test, so it will be useful to compare that to real race data.
“It’s important not to get too distracted by the names of the tyres though. What we’re calling a ‘soft’ for now could end up as a medium for next year, as that’s what the testing process is all about.
“In general, the tyres are going to be less conservative next year as the second half of this season has shown how well the teams have understood our product, allowing us to make some reasonably aggressive choices.”
See below for Speedcafe.com’s exclusive F1 Race Guide ahead of the final Grand Prix of the 2012 season this weekend.
