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Pirelli expects much faster F1 cars in 2015
F1 tyre supplier Pirelli is expecting a significant step in performance from all the teams in 2015 as they make big strides following the first winter of development under the current regulations.
The new V6 turbo engines and revised aerodynamic regulations saw teams off the pace of previous years at the start of 2014, but on certain tracks towards the end of the year the cars were back up to speed. Pirelli has developed its 2015 tyres on the assumption the teams will make even bigger gains over the winter as they not only develop their chassis and aerodynamics but also benefit from power unit upgrades.
"Even if we took the same [compound] choices everywhere [as in 2014], what was conservative [in 2014] might start becoming aggressive because the pace evolution for next year is going to be pretty dramatic," Pirelli motorsport director Paul Hembery said. "We saw big improvements towards the end of the season and that's without them being able to get anywhere near the powertrain in the way they'd like to. We can expect quite a big jump again in performance, and if we are talking a second to two seconds a lap speed improvement then that dramatically changes the way the tyres are used, so we have to be wary of that and follow that."
Hembery believes F1's new regulations created interesting races in 2014.
"The racing [in 2014] has been by and large very good. It was very interesting with a lot of battles and a lot of in-team battles - we haven't seen a lot of that in recent years with team-mates having battles, there tends to be a dominant factor in most teams but we have seen less of that and a lot of very strong battles between team-mates. If you take away the Mercedes dominance, it has been pretty tight with the group behind and the racing has been good. Considering what we thought coming into the season - that it might not be that exciting with reliability [issues] - you've got to say that the teams and engine manufacturers have done a good job with such a dramatic change in regulations to not have such dramatic problems."
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