The 2024 Method 1 season delivered its last verdicts within the championship’s concluding act, the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on the 5.281-kilometre Yas Marina Circuit on Yas Island, however there are nonetheless many extremely attention-grabbing insights to be drawn from the vehicles that characterised this championship, beginning with the truth that their performances exceeded expectations.
This theme was highlighted by the qualifying instances at a few of the last races of the 2024 Method 1 marketing campaign, the place, due to sure components, a larger-than-expected leap ahead in lap instances was noticed, stunning not solely the groups but additionally Pirelli.
Talking in the course of the 12 months’s last race weekend, the Italian producer defined how the speeds and enhancements achieved by the 2024 vehicles, each in lap instances and cargo peaks, turned out to be increased than the simulations had predicted.
Yearly, Pirelli receives efficiency and growth simulations from the groups for the upcoming season to ascertain a reference for the potential masses on the tires. Along with its inner simulations, the producer makes use of crew information for comparability, together with long-distance simulations and extra detailed reviews shared simply weeks earlier than a Grand Prix.
It’s from evaluating the anticipated information in these simulations with the instances and cargo peaks recorded on monitor that significantly attention-grabbing insights emerged. “Within the final races, we witnessed a greater-than-expected efficiency enhance and noticed very excessive masses, particularly from two or three groups,” defined Simone Berra, Pirelli’s chief engineer, who carefully analyzes this information to know the load ranges appearing on every tire in the course of the Grands Prix.
“From the simulations, we normally have one for the top of the season and one for mid-year, and nobody anticipated we’d see this degree of load. These load ranges are virtually past expectations.”
Even in the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, the step ahead was evident, with an enchancment of just about a second in comparison with the pole place time in 2023. This hole turns into much more pronounced when evaluating Lando Norris‘s 2024 pole time to the place McLaren was 12 months earlier, exceeding a full second. Observing the listing of enhancements all through the season clearly highlights the developments, significantly on sure tracks.
By late November, Pirelli had already obtained simulations for the following season, that are presently underneath analysis and evaluation. For the 2025 Method 1 vehicles, nonetheless, the Italian producer has already taken steps in latest months with a view to tackle additional will increase in load, modifying tire building to higher reply to the anticipated load values from the groups, which is able to undoubtedly proceed to rise.
Because of this, it isn’t anticipated that building will should be modified mid-season because it was in 2023, a really specific case the place Pirelli nonetheless reacted shortly. “We don’t need to change the development in the course of the season as a result of we consider it isn’t proper. We offer a specification, and this could stay the identical for the remainder of the season,” Simone Berra defined.
“For Silverstone final 12 months, the explanation was that the rise in stress on the tire was fairly important, and we proposed this modification to enhance tire integrity. However we don’t count on to come across the same scenario subsequent 12 months [in 2025], as the brand new construction has improved resistance to tire stress.”
Within the case of unexpected points and masses even increased than anticipated, one choice might be to reply by growing tire pressures, a facet that might successfully be evaluated on a race-by-race foundation relying on the circumstances. Nevertheless, Pirelli would like to not enhance pressures an excessive amount of, as this might have unwanted side effects.
“We’d react by adjusting the stress, however we would like to not increase it an excessive amount of, and I believe the groups agree. It’s because growing stress can result in overheating and graining. So, we need to maintain stress as little as doable,” added Simone Berra. It also needs to be famous that the brand new 2025 compounds have been designed and developed particularly to cut back graining, which in some instances this 12 months was barely above expectations.
Looking forward to the 2025 Method 1 championship, there is a crucial consideration: the event curve of the groups is not going to observe the identical trajectory seen this 12 months. That is partly as a result of the technical cycle is nearing its finish and partly as a result of the 2026 Method 1 season will carry a significant technical revolution. Many groups are already working to find out the most effective window to shift focus from the 2025 vehicles to the brand new technical laws. Because of this, in contrast to 2024, when groups launched important aerodynamic updates even till the ultimate Grands Prix, growth in 2025 might be extra restrained.
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