Pirelli confirms 2014 tyre size not changing

Pirelli has officially confirmed that the size of its F1 tyres will not be changing.

There were reports earlier which suggested that since the torque produced by next year’s new V6 engines will be much greater, the Italian marque would change the size of the tyres and would supply bigger and wider tyres. In fact motor sport boss Paul Hembery told Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport that the 2014 data supplied by one engine supplier in particular, alleged to be Mercedes was pretty alarming.

This confirmation ties in with reports Mercedes’ 2014 rivals, Renault and Ferrari, might be expecting to be outpaced at least initially by up to 100 hp and so they want the specification of next year’s tyres to remains the same.

Hembery confirmed stating “Based on the information we have received from most of the teams, we have decided to keep the same tyre dimensions for 2014.” He further stated that since the teams would make different demand for tyres next year, they have proposed that the regulations be amended so that the teams may use different compounds front and rear if required.

However teams like McLaren were of different opinion and reportedly argued that bigger tyres would have required teams to design and produce different gearboxes, due to the increased load on the drivetrain.