Mario Isola, the head of Pirelli for Formula 1 has suggested that Formula 1 teams voted against the new Pirelli tyres for the 2020 season due to the heavy cost and effort required to redesign their cars to suit the tyres.
The 2020 compounds were tested extensively during the 2019 season with the final test conducted at Yas Marina after the season was concluded. However, the teams in a unanimous decision taken in December, all 10 teams voted against the adoption of the new tyre for 2020.
Isola said that he understood why the teams rejected the tyre. He elaborated by saying that the teams' decision was mainly taken considering the fact that 2021 will also see major tyre changes with the 18 inch tyres from Pirelli coming into force. Thus, with major rebuilding already due for 2021, the teams wanted to avoid doing the same for 2020 as well.
Its believed that the shape of the 2020 tyre would have definitely forced the teams to make comprehensive changes to the cars' designs to accommodate the new tyres.
We shouldn't forget that 2019 was pretty hectic for the teams and the same is expected for 2020. Last year saw the teams involved in three different projects - racing with the 2019 car, developing the 2020 car and working on the 2021 car regulations. With the amount of resources and effort that the teams have already invested in 2019 and 2020, it wont be wrong to say that they pretty much had their hands full and hence the decision to stick with the 2019 tyres.
“Before taking the decision we had a lot of discussion with the teams. Obviously that decision came quite late, considering that we had the additional development and then the final validation in Abu Dhabi.
It is clear the new product has a different profile and this affects the aerodynamics of the car. And with cars that are almost – I would say 95% – finalised, the teams are not very happy to modify the car again or to put additional resources on developing the 2020 car."
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"We have to consider that it is a very particular period in which the teams, especially last year, have been involved in three different projects. Because they were racing with the 2019 car, they were developing the 2020 car and they were already working on the 2021 car regulations. Even if they didn’t make any physical part of the 2021 car, some people were involved in analysis and simulations and so on to finalise the 2021 regulations.
So it’s a very busy period for us as well for the teams. And the final decision was mainly due to the fact that keeping the same tyres that we had last year is not a modification, it’s not an additional element to consider for the teams in 2020. They know the tyre, the learning curve that we have every year when we introduce a new tyre is not there for this year so they can focus on 2021 and developing the 2020 car without having these additional elements that is a variable in their development. So it’s understandable from a side that they decided to keep the old tyre.”
His remarks come at the backdrop of his admission that the 2019 tyre may be prone to overheating in 2020. Since the 2020 Formula 1 cars are going to be faster than their 2019 counterparts, the 2019 tyre will definitely struggle to keep the temperatures down. More speed means more energy and more downforce which will cause the tyres to heat faster. Since the 2019 tyres were not made for such speeds, minimum tyre pressures will have to rise this year to counter the higher energy levels.
“They are aware of the fact that due to the increase in performance for the 2020 car, we probably need to raise a little bit the pressure this year. Because obviously with increased performance the only leverage that we have is to increase the starting pressure.”
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