A dramatic change has been introduced in the design of Pirelli wet rubber tyres in Formula One, reports Yahoo! Sport.
The company has dropped its P-Zero brand name on the items in favour of the Cinturato logo, with the wet tyre featuring a blue sidewall and the intermediate model appearing in green.
Paul Hembery, motorsport director at Pirelli, explained that it is all part of a broader goal of helping fans know more about the tyres used by Formula One drivers. There have been several meetings to discuss how to transmit this information on-screen.
The wet rubber tyres are not the only rubber products that the manufacturer has decided to alter for 2012; markings on its dry rubber tyres have been amended to make it easier to tell which model is in use, although the colour scheme will remain unchanged.
Mr Hembery said: "We have increased the bulk of the colours, and we have done a lot of work filming spinning tyres. The silver now is quite svelte so, when it will be used with the medium, you will see the white quite clearly. If the tyre looks black, then you know it is the hard."
The National's Gary Meenaghan explained that Pirelli is hoping to see more multi-stop races in the coming season with plenty of tyre changes, since this brings in an additional layer of strategy to the competition as teams must consider the degradation of their tyres.
Mr Meenaghan accepted that tyres are not always the most glamorous aspect of Formula One racing, but this does not stop them from being an often vital part of the sport and actually increasing excitement levels at events.
Author: Paul Smithson
26 January 2012
