Pirelli picks harder tyres for Singapore

2013 F1 season

Posted on

| Written by

Pirelli has announced the tyre allocations for the three races on the calendar which follow this weekend’s Hungarian Grand Prix.

The only change compared to last year’s tyre choices is at Singapore, where the medium tyre will be used instead of the soft, in addition to the super-soft compound.

At Spa-Francorchamps and Monza, the two fastest circuits on the calendar, the hardest available tyres will be used: medium and hard. Spa sees the highest vertical loadings on the front tyres of any track on the calendar as the cars pass through Eau Rouge.

Here are all the tyre allocations to date in 2013 and the choices from the previous two seasons:

Circuit2013 Option2013 Prime2012 Option2012 Prime2011 Option2011 Prime
MelbourneSuper SoftMediumSoftMediumSoftHard
SepangMediumHardMediumHardSoftHard
ShanghaiSoftMediumSoftMediumSoftHard
BahrainSoftHardSoftMediumNo raceNo race
CatalunyaMediumHardSoftHardSoftHard
Monte-CarloSuper SoftSoftSuper SoftSoftSuper SoftSoft
MontrealSuper SoftMediumSuper SoftSoftSuper SoftSoft
SilverstoneMediumHardSoftHardSoftHard
NurburgringSoftMediumNo raceNo raceSoftMedium
HungaroringSoftMediumSoftMediumSuper SoftSoft
Spa-FrancorchampsMediumHardMediumHardSoftMedium
MonzaMediumHardMediumHardSoftMedium
SingaporeSuper SoftMediumSuper SoftSoftSuper SoftSoft
SuzukaSoftHardSoftMedium
KoreaSuper SoftSoftSuper softSoft
BuddhSoftHardHardSoft
Yas MarinaSoftMediumSoftMedium
Circuit of the AmericasMediumHardNo raceNo race
InterlagosMediumHardSoftMedium

2013 F1 season


Browse all 2013 F1 season articles

Image © Force India

Author information

Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

Got a potential story, tip or enquiry? Find out more about RaceFans and contact us here.

18 comments on “Pirelli picks harder tyres for Singapore”

  1. Chris (@tophercheese21)
    25th July 2013, 10:52

    I can understand the usage of Hard and Medium at Spa, but I dont know why they use the same at Monza? Surely Monza doesn’t load up the tyres anywhere near as heavily as Spa? Right?

    I would’ve thought that Soft and Medium would be more appropriate for Monza, because there’s only 11 corners, and every corner except the Ascari chicane and Parabolica are relatively low speed corners.

    Do the higher speeds put more load on the tyres than I think?

    1. @tophercheese21 I shouldn’t think so, I think teams would want to avoid unneccessary scrub on the straights as it would affect top speed . The only thing I can think of is Monza tends to have high temperatures, although if they’re bringing the soft to Hungary that scotches that idea. High loads due to downforce shouldn’t be an issue either as they’ll be running close to minimum downforce (unless they did what Button did a couple of years ago).

      I cant remember what happened at Monza last year, I think there was some deg though, I seem to remember Perez managed to come through on an alternate strategy?

      1. Chris (@tophercheese21)
        25th July 2013, 12:05

        @george

        Yeah, I have the Italian GP recorded from last year, and they were able to push hard all race. It was an easy 1 stopper.

    2. I’ve never understood Pirelli’s decision to take the hardest compounds to Monza, the highest speeds the cars would be doing will likely be on the straights + Curva Grande and the way I’ve always thought about it is that a car has enough downforce when driving in a straight line so the tyres won’t be worked in a straight-line unlike during cornering but perhaps the stopping power/massive deceleration, especially into the chicanes during braking is enough to convince Pirelli to take the Medium and Hard.

      Singapore is complex at first, but when looking at the bigger picture and thinking of the tyres now being the 2013 compounds with the 2012 constructions and Pirelli’s reluctance to influence the world championship as much as they have up to this point, you can see why the S-Softs and Mediums are selected and still keep in mind that the 2013 compounds are softer so the 2013 Mediums = 2012 Softs. There’s a GP2 round at Singapore too and I imagine that Pirelli will supply the GP2 teams with the Softs along with the S-Softs as I believe it’s a trend that goes on, so there should be little issues for the F1 drivers finding grip come Saturday.

      1. You answered your own question; Monza is fastest and therefore requires the hardest compound. Simple as that.

      2. In addendum, you don’t want the softest, grippiest tires on a low downforce track. It makes no sense.

    3. Hembery said “The second half of the season starts off with two of the fastest and most demanding races for tyres of the year, in Belgium and Italy”. In 2005 both McLarens had problem there with chunking (or blistering? I’m not sure what’s called) and in 2006 during qualifying there were problems for both suppliers, delamination of Bridgestone on Yamamoto’s Super Aguri and punctured Michelin on Alonso’s Renault.

      So yeah, constant high speeds at Monza are not easy for the tyres. Wear or degradation are minimal, though.

  2. i remember last year in Spa and Monza the tyre were lasting like forever….ROFL

  3. the two fastest circuits on the calendar

    I thought the average speed at Silverstone was quicker than Spa?

    1. It’s difficult to say, as last 3 years qualis on these track weren’t completely dry, so the best data out there is from 2010. Silverstone – 236.652, Spa – 238.371.

      But if I had to guess, it’s about reaching top speeds, which are indeed only second to Monza and very long period of driving over 300 kph which at Spa is over 30 seconds and 30% of a lap.

  4. WilliamB (@william-brierty)
    25th July 2013, 12:40

    Red Bull have clearly “had a word”…

    1. @william-brierty I wouldn’t say so: the allocations for Monza and Spa have remained unchanged from last year and in Singapore Pirelli have done something akin to Australia at the start of the season, where Red Bull didn’t “have a word”. Also, it’s worth noting that these tyres are still the 2013 compounds where medium = 2012 soft, supersoft = 2012 supersuper soft (that tyre is purely hypothetical ;) ). It’s also worth noting that Pirelli have reverted back to their original planned allocation for Hungary (from hard/medium to medium/soft) which would surely hamper Red Bull?

  5. I’m ok with all three allocations. Let them boys race flat out.

  6. I can see Pirelli’s logic in picking the harder compounds for such high speed tracks. They must be in full on conservative mode, and desperate to avoid another fiasco like Silverstone or loads of degradation like Spain. There’s probably a safety element there too. Wouldn’t want a blow-out coming through Eau Rouge, even if the new constructions make that far less likely and if the harder compounds can help prevent that further then go for it.

    1. @colossal-squid I’m not surprised at all that the hardest tyres were selected for Spa as it is the highest energy track on the tyres, so it’d be silly not to! That’s not really an issue of being conservative, it’s just common sense.

    2. Chris (@tophercheese21)
      26th July 2013, 2:09

      @colossal-squid , @vettel1

      Correct me if I’m wrong but;
      Aren’t all the tyre’s just as structurally strong as eachother?

      Like, isn’t the Super-Soft just as strong as the Hard?
      Because they use the same (from now) Kevlar belt underneath and the same bonding process for the sidewalls.

      It’s just the rubber compound they lay over the top of the kevlar belt that differs them from the other tyres.

      1. @tophercheese21 no you are correct about the constructions themselves but the compounds can literally be torn to shreads due to the extremely high energy being out through them. Think of it this way: having the supersofts on is a bit like using a skid block made out of papier-mâché, whereas the hard will be more like wood (plywood though because they’re still pretty soft!). So the compound itself can suffer immensely and possibly delaminate, which wouldn’t compromise the tyre itself but there would be a sudden loss of grip which could be very dangerous through Eau Rouge.

        So yes you are correct the structure is the same, but because the compound is not the same (softer and heats up faster) the tyre surface itself can pose a danger.

  7. at spa and monza, its not to do with wear, it’s structural safety

Comments are closed.