New Pirelli tyres to be tested on Friday

2016 Belgian Grand Prix

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Pirelli will conduct a test of new tyres designed to better withstand damage from debris during tomorrow’s practice sessions.

F1’s official tyre supplier announced on social media “In FP1 and FP2 tomorrow we will test prototype unmarked tyres modified to even further protect the tyre from possible consequences generated by accidental multiple impacts on kerbs or other external bodies”.

Sebastian Vettel and Nico Rosberg suffered high-speed tyre failures during last year’s Belgian Grand Prix. Vettel lambasted the manufacturer after his failure which occurred while he was on course for a podium finish during the race.

Vettel suffered a similar failure during the Austrian Grand Prix earlier this year following which Pirelli blamed debris for the blow-out.

The Formula One sporting regulations allow the tyre supplier to provide “one additional specification of dry-weather tyre” to all of the teams “for evaluation purposes”.

2016 Belgian Grand Prix

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    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...

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    One comment on “New Pirelli tyres to be tested on Friday”

    1. And will any team be willing to inflict damage for testing purposes, not knowing if such damage will be limited to the tire itself, or might end up damaging the car (suspension, like what happened in Austria, or gearbox).

      Or will these automatically be tested as drivers go outside track limits (“its just 2 cm!”) and over kerbs?

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