Leading global tyre manufacturer and Formula-1 tyre partner, Pirelli, has announced which tyres they are presenting for the Turkish Grand Prix to take place at Istanbul Park, nine years after the circuit had last hosted a race in the history of Formula 1.
Pirelli is providing the hardest compounds for the Turkish Grand Prix- C1, C2 and C3s, which are one step harder than they were for the race at Imola.
Pirelli is presenting a completely different tyre range which varies from the usual standard allocation. The drivers will be getting seven softs, three mediums and three hard sets over the weekend. That's one fewer set of softs and one more set of hard tyres. Mario Isola, Pirelli's head of F1 and car racing, explained why.
"Turkey is yet another new venue on this fascinating 2020 Formula 1 calendar, and although it's a place that we’ve been to before, to all intents and purposes we can consider it as a brand new circuit for us: especially as we don’t have experience of the new asphalt," he said.
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"For tyres, we expect Turkey to be a challenge in terms of energy loads, which is why we have shifted the allocations towards the harder compounds - just as we did in Portimao, even though the new asphalt might be less severe than we were expecting.
"As has often been the case this year, the information gathered in free practice will be absolutely crucial, in terms of assessing not only degradation but especially wear on such a demanding layout.
"Of course, no mention of Istanbul Park would be complete without talking about Turn 8: which this year will probably be taken flat-out by the latest generation of high-downforce Formula 1 cars, increasing the loads on the tyres accordingly. It's not going to be an easy race for them, so finding the right level of tyre management will be critical," he concluded.
