Pirelli will study an F1 Monaco GP only with soft tires

The lack of action and overtaking in last weekend’s Monte Carlo race, in which the top ten drivers finished in the same position they started in, has led to a flurry of possible rule changes to help improve the spectacle.

Perhaps the most sensible idea is that of George Russell, who considers that wear only soft tires to Monaco, instead of the usual three compounds, would add some risk and excitement.

Mario Isolahead of Pirelli in Formula 1, said he would be happy for teams to provide some simulation data on how a race would play out with only softer compound rubber, but he is not convinced it would change things drastically as it would force even more management. largest of the tires.

“I’ve heard the proposal and I actually spoke to George, who told me about it,” Isola said. “I think that We can ask the teams to do a simulation and see what happens. But in 2018, when they were on softer rubber, if I remember correctly, they were running eight seconds slower than the potential of their tires, which was the F2 pace,” he explained.

Isola said that Bringing softer tires to Monaco would not necessarily require more pit stops and, instead, it would probably only make the drivers slow down their pace even more to extend the life of the tires.

“The problem in Monaco is that you can’t overtake, so you can slow down 2, 3 or even 4 seconds per lap and no one can pass you. The important thing, in my opinion, is that you have to take into account not only the tires , but why a team decides to stop or not.

“It’s a combination of tire degradation, how easy it is to overtake and the time you spend in a pit stop. Imola is a good example, because if it takes you 28 seconds to make a pit stop, then the logical thing is that try not to do it,” he explained.

Isola also explained that imposing a minimum number of stops would also not provide any added valuebecause the teams would probably all use the same strategies.

“I remember many years ago, when that proposal was made, we had the discussion and the teams asked their strategy engineers to do a simulation. The result was that everyone more or less made the same strategy. So by adding constraints, we didn’t “We are pushing them to have different strategies or different approaches to the race, but simply to converge on it. And that is not what we want.”

“What we want is to have a mix between one stop and two stops, with different compounds. To solve the problem we have to work together to sit down, consider all the proposals, do a simulation and understand what the best approach is“he explained.

When asked what would be the best solution for Monaco, Isola replied: “A wider circuit, but you can’t destroy buildings. It’s a one-off race where everything is decided on Saturday, unless there is something unpredictable or strange. But for the rest of the street circuits, if we go even softer, maybe we can change the approach a little and open a two-stop strategy on the circuits where we now have one.”

“I’m thinking about the other street circuits like Miami and Las Vegas, the new ones. That’s possible. But for Monaco, to be honest, I think there’s very little we can do.”

Isola added that Pirelli has already given the go-ahead to the construction of new dry tires for next year, which aims to reduce overheating, following a test at Paul Ricard this week. A softer compound will also be created, intended for urban circuits.

“The idea is to also introduce a new, softer C6 compound, because on the calendar we have more and more urban circuits and we need softer compounds. We are going to move the range a little towards the soft side, and always trying to reduce overheating “, he concluded.

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