Formula 1 has played around with several rules and features of a race weekend during the first five rounds of 2023, and another change will debut at the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix.
This weekend will be the first ‘Alternative Tyre Allocation’ event. Drivers will only be allowed to use 11 sets of slick tyres rather than the usual limit of 13 at rounds that do not feature a sprint race or evaluation tyre compounds.
Each driver can use three sets of the designated hard compound, four sets of the medium and four sets of the soft. That is half the number of soft tyres available on a standard weekend, and one more set each of the hard and the medium.
Pirelli has nominated its three softest slick compounds for use at Imola, meaning the C3, C4 and C5 tyres will be available, which is one stage softer than the teams had last year.
The intermediate and wet tyre allocation remains unchanged, with four sets of the former and three of the latter for the weekend. However Pirelli is bringing a new specification of wet weather tyre this weekend, and the weather forecast indicates teams are likely to need them.
Pirelli’s motorsport director Mario Isola said the changes are “both aimed at improving the environmental sustainability of our sport.”
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
On top of the restriction on how many tyres can be used, drivers also have new limits on when they are allowed to use them.
“At Imola we will be testing a new regulation that requires teams to use a different type of compound for each of the three sessions, with the hards fitted for Q1, the mediums for Q2, and the softs for Q3,” Isola explained.
“This means a reduction – from 13 to 11 – of the sets of dry tyres that each driver has available for the entire event, therefore decreasing the environmental impact generated by the production and transport of the tyres.”
The introduction of the new wet weather tyre this weekend is also part of a drive to reduce F1’s environmental impact.
“Starting from this grand prix a new compound of full wet tyre will be introduced which will not require the use of tyre warmers beforehand. Track tests have shown even better performance than the previous Cinturato Blue full wet, even without the electric heating of the tyre. The result of studies carried out by Pirelli, it is the first concrete step towards the use of dry tyres without preheating.”
While the new wet compound is…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at RaceFans…