Hamilton: More consistent tyres ‘fantastic’ for drivers

2017 F1 Season

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Lewis Hamilton says that Pirelli’s new, more consistent tyres for the 2017 season will be “fantastic” for drivers.

Speaking at the launch of Mercedes’ new car at Silverstone, Hamilton said he is expecting more consistent performance from F1’s tyre supplier this season.

Pictures: Mercedes launch new F1 car
“I know through the Pirelli testing that the tyres are more consistent,” says Hamilton. “That will be fantastic for us.”

The three-time world champion has not had a chance to drive Pirelli’s new dry compounds on track, but expects drivers to have more opportunity to push longer in races compared to 2016.

“There’ll be more sprint-like stints,” Hamilton explains. “It really wasn’t in the past. I particularly remember the race in Monza last year, I fell back to fifth and you only had so much life in the tyre.

“When I was trying to get past the cars ahead while using as little of the tyre as possible to get back into position to chase the guy ahead. I passed the guys, got back to second and had nothing left in the tyres.

“If I had continued to push at the pace I was, I would’ve caught Rosberg for a couple of laps but then I’d have lost out overall in the race because I’d have spent all my tyres.

“So I think it’s great that we’ve made the tyres so you can slide a bit more and be more aggressive on them.”

With the sport introducing more aggressive aerodynamic regulations for this season’s cars, Hamilton is enthused about the new opportunity to push harder for longer.

“You’re going to be more on the limit every single lap. That’s how it should be.”

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Will Wood
Will has been a RaceFans contributor since 2012 during which time he has covered F1 test sessions, launch events and interviewed drivers. He mainly...

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7 comments on “Hamilton: More consistent tyres ‘fantastic’ for drivers”

  1. Great stuff.

  2. Τhats something extremely positive to hear.We have seen so many drivers compromizing their driving style,just to handle better the tyres…It will be very interesting to see whether this change in tyres will effect most drivers or some of them.For instance Perez and Massa are 2 drivers that might find themselves in a totally new situation.On the one hand Perez,the master of Pirelli’s,won’t be able to use the advantage he had in 2015 & 2016,so he will have to show his pure speed.Massa on the othe hand,the driver who treated badly the Pirelli’s,won’t need to take care of his tyres,so he might be able to find more speed!

  3. I feel like they missed an opportunity with the wider cars and the bigger tyres. The car is so elongated that it doesn’t feel much different than last years car in these side shots.

    It is an F1 car, not a truck.

    1. +100 kilos.

      The extra length isn’t zero mass.

      Still….could be worse. This was Bernie’s last gasp regulation change – at least they didn’t include onboard water tanks and wheel mounted sprinklers to spice up the ‘show’.

      1. +1 to both. Shorter and lighter cars would’ve been much better

  4. Can’t wait for Melbourne when all this plays out for the first time, just one month to go!

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