Pirelli motorsport boss Mario Isola believes switching back to 2018-spec tyres would have gone against what teams requested from this year’s product.
At the Austrian Grand Prix, the FIA held a meeting which proposed doing just that after Ferrari and Red Bull had suggested the 2019 compounds had been tailor-made for Mercedes.
A vote was split 5-5 meaning it did not pass but Isola explained that if it had gone through that would have presented a dilemma for the Italian supplier.
“We never tested the 2018 specification on 2019 cars,” he said to RaceFans.
“The 2019 car is different from last year’s car. The aero package is different, there is a different balance in terms of downforce front to rear. So we are not 100 percent sure that the 2018 specification would work well on the 2019 car.
“I would say that probably the level of blistering and overheating [would be] a lot more because they are quicker, they are heavier than last year. So there is no element that is going in the direction to reduce it.”
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And in reverting back to rubber which blisters and overheats, the Pirelli chief said that would be the opposite of what teams had asked for.
“The current targets are defining a level of delta lap time between compounds [and] a level of degradation, and if I look at the first eight races we are very close to the targets,” Isola explained.
“The other request was to have less of overheating and from last year we have less overheating. As I said we can improve, but we have less overheating.
“That’s why I’m saying that most of the targets have been achieved,” he stated.
That being said, Pirelli, who initially joined F1 creating high-degradation tyres between 2011-2016, insist they are open to altering their philosophy within boundaries.
“Provided that we work together, we don’t make anything that is dangerous or bad for the image of the company, we are always available to discuss any solution any idea any improvement,” the motorsport boss confirmed.
“I don’t care if it is during the year, for next year. If it is during the year there is a regulation that says that we need at least 70 percent of the teams in agreement to change the specification, that is clear. But if there is no safety issue and the current product has no safety issue we cannot send any request.
“If there is a sensible idea to change something that could be the specification, the sporting rules, the allocation of the sets, any of these that can be good for the sport and that is with the agreement with the FIA, FOM and the teams we are always available to consider that and to implement that.”
