Old Pirelli reputation is ‘living in past’ – Hembery

Pirelli racing boss Paul Hembery has played down suggestions the tyre marque has a bad reputation when it comes to formula one.

Even though a Pirelli-shod car won a grand prix during the company’s last F1 foray in 1991, some figures have suggested that the tyres supplied during that period were inconsistent.

“Some people like to live in the past,” Hembery is quoted by Germany’s Auto Bild.

“Of course we had this problem, but what we had developed was a very aggressive qualifying tyre.  In the last 20 years, the rules and technologies have changed significantly,” he added.

Another suggestion is that F1’s selection of Pirelli as Bridgestone’s official supplier successor is a risk.

Instead, the sport could have opted for Michelin, who were last in F1 less than four years ago.

Hembery said: “We know the characteristics of many of the European tracks from GP3.  The overseas tracks are largely unknown to us.

“We will therefore take an accordingly conservative approach to the selection of rubber compounds,” he revealed.

And he denied that the selection of Pirelli gives Ferrari an advantage.

“The only advantage for Ferrari is that we both speak Italian and like pasta,” Hembery joked.

He said every team, to each pay Pirelli between EUR 1 and 1.5 million next year, will receive ten sets of prototype tyres to test after November’s season finale in Abu Dhabi.

© RIF | GMM