Tyres to play major role in British Grand Prix

The British Grand Prix is going to be held on Sunday and the tyres are going to play a significant role at the Silverstone racing circuit.

Pirelli, an Italian multinational tyre manufacturer has brought the C1, C2 and C3 options to the historic venue, a choice the manufacturer says is dictated by the high energy loads Silverstone puts through the tyres.

The drivers will once again be given two sets of the hard tyre (marked white), three sets of the medium tyre (marked yellow), and eight sets of the soft tyre (marked red), as well as the green intermediate tyre and the blue full wets if needed.

Pirelli is also set to introduce a new tyre construction for all dry compounds at the event, increasing their strength in response to cars' lap time improvements this season.

Pirelli Motorsport director Mario Isola said, "The British Grand Prix will mark the debut of a new slick tyre construction, using materials that have been brought forward from their anticipated introduction next year."

He added, "This change in the specification was made necessary due to the increased performance of the cars seen since the start of the season - both in terms of outright speed and loadings - compared to the pre-season simulation data supplied to Pirelli by the team's last winter, and the fact that this trend is only set to increase as the championship goes on."

Isola added, "We've worked very hard on simulation over the last few years in order to not only supply a product that meets the performance targets set by all the stakeholders but also to have the ability to anticipate any eventual issues and react to them promptly."

"The new specification gives the tyre extra resistance against fatigue but does not affect any technical parameters or its behaviour on track," he said.

He added, "All the teams already had the opportunity to try the new tyre construction out at the Spanish Grand Prix, when two sets were put at the disposal of each driver in free practice. Their comments were in line with our expectations, especially when it came to transparency in terms of performance."

"The new specification also allows us to keep front and rear tyre pressures largely unchanged compared to last year, despite a significant increase in average loads," he signed off saying.