Formula 1’s sole tyre supplier Pirelli is conducting a meeting today at its headquarters in Milan to discuss the possibility of removing the hard tyre option for the British Grand Prix in July.
Pirelli has often brought harder compounds to the Silverstone circuit due to its high-speed nature, with long sweeping corners that punish the tyres heavily with corners such as Copse, Maggots, Becketts, Stowe and Abbey.
However, after comments made at the Spanish Grand Prix this weekend by Sergio Perez, claiming the orange marked rubber would ‘only be good enough for pictures’, including discussions about the compound in the Friday drivers’ briefing. Pirelli has felt the need to be proactive in looking at taking possible action.
May 18 had been designated as the eight-week cut-off date for teams and drivers to choose their desired compound quantities, however, Pirelli has given them extra time while the discussions take place.
Pirelli F1 boss Mario Isola told Motorsport.com: “The regulations say we have to select three compounds, and at the moment the selection is the hard/medium/soft. The discussion is if we move to the medium/soft/super-soft.
“There is the feeling that we can move maybe one step softer for Silverstone, in that case using medium, soft and super-soft.
“In Silverstone it will be free choice, so it is up to the teams to make the right one and we see. And if we go in this direction we will have more pitstops.”
