What would it be like if a Formula One season passed without controversy, real or contrived? Well, we won’t know this year, that’s for sure, and tires are at the epicenter of this year’s unfortunate soap opera.

Pirelli SpA has rebuffed claims that its recent 1,000km test in Spain gave the Mercedes team, with whose 2013 vehicle and drivers the test was completed, any unfair sporting advantage over other teams. A similar in-season tire test was allegedly conducted with another top team, according to numerous motorsport press reports.

Speaking in a conference call with the press earlier this week, Pirelli motorsport director Paul Hembery explained that the purpose of this test was to continue preliminary development for Pirelli’s potential 2014 tires – even though the manufacturer has yet to sign a deal to continue its supply.

Hembery also clarified that the company has been allowed to test development tires with available teams since March 2012, when it wrote to all the F1 teams to inform them of this position. These tests are conducted blind, meaning that only Pirelli can access the data drawn from the laps.

Hembery also confirmed some details of the new tires that will be introduced for use in 2013. The tiremaker has been under fire for providing race tires that wear faster than previous models, leading to teams taking more pit stops than planned.

The two new tires are to be available for all teams to test in the Friday practice sessions in Canada, and it is anticipated that the full grid will support their introduction at Silverstone in England following these sessions. The tires, Hembery said, are Pirelli technicians’ resolution to the delamination issues witnessed so far this season, and were developed in the laboratory rather than via track testing.

Pirelli was keen to stress that delamination has occurred on only four occasions “and always because of on-track detritus.” The company continued that these events had “never put the drivers’ safety at risk, but does risk harming Pirelli’s image. This is why the company decided to intervene.”  

Clearly seeking to squash innuendos and rumors brought about by confusion over the introduction of new tires in 2013 and a test conducted with only the Mercedes team after the Spanish grand prix, Hembery said that Pirelli had been “disappointed by some of the coverage in the media and on social networks” about the joint issues.

Concerning the testing of development tires in Spain, Hembery explained that F1’s “very dramatic” regulation changes in 2014 mean there is a need for the tire supplier to use 1,000km tests throughout the season. He also explained that the tests would have specific goals for testing “new concepts” and that the data would be collected and treated as confidential industrial development information.

Hembery also revealed that this was not the first time in 2013 that Pirelli had performed a 1,000km test. Without revealing the identity of the team with whom this test was completed, Pirelli said that the FIA had been informed, though the details were confidential. Hembery said the manufacturer would continue to follow this procedure, or indeed any new procedure put in place. In the particular instance of the Mercedes test, Hembery said that Pirelli has answered “all of the FIA’s questions” and would continue to “provide total assistance and support” to the association.

Asked why Pirelli had chosen to use Mercedes as a testing partner this time, Hembery said that it had been the “first team of a few [it was] in contact with that indicated its availability.” The tire supplier said that it had not used its own adapted 2010 Renault testing vehicle because it was running in a promotional event in Southeast Asia, and more importantly because “it is about four seconds slower” than the 2013 specification cars.

He also detailed the economic and logistical impracticality of testing with more than one team in these instances. Hembery repeated that there was “no benefit to Mercedes” for helping in the test beyond the potential benefits to all F1 teams that testing 2014 tires now could bring.

Hembery also spoke briefly about the 2014 tires that Pirelli would seek to provide, should they sign a new contract in the coming months. He said that the supplier views 2014 as “a good opportunity to take a step back and let the cars do the talking,” suggesting that a more conservative specification would be Pirelli’s currently favored option.

It will be interesting to see if this thinking will help to persuade Bernie Ecclestone, who has spoken up regularly in favor of tires that allow for greater strategic variation, and Formula One to put pen to contract.

Groupe Michelin seemed to test the waters for a potential return to F1 with a social media poll of F1 fans, though it has made it understood that tire competition is one of its requirements.

Speculation about Michelin as a successor rose when its @MichelinTyres Twitter feed retweeted a Facebook poll started by the user @MercAMGF1Fans:
“RT @MercAMGF1Fans: @MichelinTyres we’ve created a poll… let’s see if the f1 fans agree.”

The poll asked if readers “want to see Michelin return to F1, with REAL RACING Tyres.”

Meanwhile, speculation also pointed to Hankook Tire Co., which was considered a viable candidate when the F1 contract came open last. But Hankook said the lack of development time and uncertainty about rule changes in the short to medium term mean that 2014 is too soon to enter the world’s most high-profile motorsport series.

Hankook currently supplies tires to DTM – Germany’s touring car series – and the Formula 3 European Championship, and while it has confirmed its long-term interest in F1, Hankook’s DTM competition engineer told Autosport magazine that it is too late to develop tires for 2014.

Michael Eckert also cited problems in getting testing feedback from current F1 teams – an issue even Pirelli has struggled to combat, given the ongoing controversy surrounding the Mercedes team’s role in the recent 1,000km Barcelona test.

Eckert also told Autosport that uncertainty about F1’s 2014 regulations – right down to the dimensions of the tires – in addition to the “huge” financial commitment make it difficult to contemplate signing up, despite the marketing incentives and engineering challenges it offers. He made the point that Hankook, which has expanded its motorsport portfolio in recent years, does not necessarily see F1 as a “final destination series.”

While Hembery would not rule out Pirelli’s future involvement in F1 – the Italian brand would “make an evaluation based on the new conditions” – a move back to competing tire brands would mean a U-turn on the series’ current desire to make tires that degrade quicker. No tire brand is going to want to put quick-wearing rubber up against a competitor’s tires. Considering the enduring economical reason for keeping an exclusive supplier – and the pliability of Pirelli’s tire performance to F1 bosses’ specifications – it still seems unlikely that this sort of sea change will be sought, especially in a year with so many enforced changes to the cars. (Tyres & Accessories)