Pirelli brings
around 1700 tyres to each grand prix, but the destiny of these tyres is
mapped out long before they arrive at the circuit. The tyres for each race
are made in a specific production run before the grand prix.
During the production process at the Izmit factory in Turkey – the sole
source of this year’s Formula One tyres – each tyre is fitted with a barcode
that is physically supplied by the FIA: world motorsport’s governing body.
This barcode is the tyre’s ‘passport’, which is embedded firmly into the
structure during the vulcanisation process and cannot be swapped. The code
contains all the details of each tyre, making it traceable throughout the
race weekend with Pirelli’s RTS (Racing Tyre System) software, which can
read and update all the data.
Once the production run for each grand prix is finished, the Izmit factory
sends a list of the bar codes to Pirelli’s logistics and distribution hub at
Didcot in the United Kingdom. There, Pirelli’s system randomly groups the
bar codes into blocks of four – comprising two rears and two fronts – which
will make up a tyre set. This list of blocks is then sent to the FIA.
The FIA subsequently allocates blocks of bar codes – and therefore sets of
tyres – to each individual car at random. The FIA prescribes a set of harder
compound tyres to be used in the first 30 minutes of FP1 and a set of softer
compound tyres to be used in Q3 for each car. The teams can then use the
other sets allocated to each car in whichever order they like, as long as
each car only uses the tyres that have been allocated for it. The only other
limitation is that the tyres from each set have to be of the same compound.
Pirelli itself is not involved in this whole process at all, meaning that the Italian firm
cannot in any way influence which tyres are allocated to which teams, or
when they are used – although a rigorous quality control process ensures
that all the tyres leaving the factory are identical anyway.
Once at the circuit, the tyres are given to the teams in strict compliance
with the allocation that has been prepared by the FIA. The bar codes allow
both the FIA and Pirelli to ensure that the right teams, according to the
regulations, are using the correct randomly assigned tyres.
Each team is assigned a Pirelli engineer, who works exclusively with that
team for all of the year, but the database that every engineer works off
allows the engineer to see only information relating specifically to his or
her team over the weekend, so that individual strategies are not
compromised. All technical data relating to the tyres and their performance
on the track is overseen by a selected group of Pirelli Research and
Development engineers based in Milan, who monitor all the information in
order to assist the team in charge of shaping the next generation of tyres.
As Pirelli’s motorsport director Paul Hembery points out: “Deciding which
tyres are allocated to which teams, or when they are used, is a job taken care of
entirely by the FIA once the tyres have left the factory. It is just another
way that impartiality can be ensured among all the teams, which has always
been a huge priority for us as exclusive tyre supplier. The way that our
team engineers work also respects this confidentiality, which is constantly
of paramount importance.” |