The past and the future. Both of them were there this morning in Abu Dhabi, in the presence of Marco Tronchetti Provera and two exceptional valets such as Ines Sastre and Bianca Balti, at the christening of the new Pirelli tyres which will be used in the next Formula 1 World Championship.
The past brings back memories Juan Manuel Fangio: a brand that has marked the history of Formula One is back for wet tyres, the Cinturato, the tire with which Pirelli raced and won in 1951 on the Alfa 159 of the unforgettable Argentine champion, and which from 2012 will distinguish the intermediates from the wet ones.
And then there are obviously many innovations aimed at the future and technology, such as the enrichment of the Racing Tire System, a data collection system that through a chip will transmit data in real time also on tablets and smartphones, therefore accessible to the public.
And the tyres? Compared to those of last season they have one squarer shape with less rounded corners in order to improve the level of wear, especially on the shoulders. The intention is to reduce the so-called "blistering", ie the formation of bubbles on the tread and to guarantee a greater aerodynamic load at the rear.
The extreme wet tires, which are capable of disposing of 60 liters per second, will be characterized by a blue band, the intermediate ones (20 liters per second) by a green one. The dry covers will continue to have the same colors instead and there will be four: supersoft, soft, medium and hard.
But the most relevant novelty in terms of entertainment are the mixes, which have been softened so much that the director of Motorsport, Paul Hembery, has quantified a improvement of lap times equal to 1 second and a half.
“After last year's positive experience – he said the president Marco Tronchetti Provera – the teams have asked us to confirm for 2012 those characteristics which in the past season have contributed to giving life to spectacular races. This is what we have done, optimizing compounds and profiles in order to guarantee greater performance. We expect races with a never predictable outcome, with differentiated strategies and with many pit stops, elements that the public, as well as the protagonists, greatly appreciated".
Pirelli will supply overall 45.000 tires for the entire 2012 World Championship. The new tires will make their debut at Jerez on 7 February, during the first official tests of the season.
