Hembery: “Pirelli's bad reputation in F1 is part of the past”

Pirelli's F1 program manager, Paul Hembery, played down the possibility that the new premier category tire supplier would have a bad reputation. Although a Pirelli-shod car won a race in the Milan-based company's last season in 1991, some figures have suggested that the Italian company delivered inconsistent performances in that period.

“Some people like to live in the past,” Hembery told Auto Bild. “For sure we had this problem, but we had developed a very aggressive tire for qualifying. Over the last 20 years, rules and technologies have changed significantly."

Another criticism concerns the Federation's preference for Pirelli to the detriment of a supplier with greater experience in F1 such as Michelin.

“We know the characteristics of many European tracks thanks to GP3” added Hembery. “The tracks outside the old continent are largely unknown to us. We will therefore have a conservative approach in choosing the compounds” he explained, denying that the selection implemented will favor Ferrari.

“The only advantage for Ferrari is Italian and the fact that we like pasta,” Hembery joked.

Each team, which will pay Pirelli between 1 and 1,5 million euros per season, will receive 10 sets of prototype tires to test after the last race of the Formula 1 season, in Abu Dhabi.