Following the on-track debut of their 18 inch tyre concept on the Lotus of Charles Pic, Pirelli have stressed that if teams are willing to push on, the tyre supplier can be ready for the switch by 2016. Pic headed out shortly after 9am in the current Lotus E22 equipped with the new 18-inch tyres and completed 14 laps of the Silverstone circuit. With the concept tyre designed principally to showcase aesthetics rather than performance, and a general-purpose compound, the lap times were not the focus. Instead, the objective was to gauge reaction to the very different new design, which received the thumbs up from most observers. Pirelli’s motorsport director Paul Hembery commented: “In our...
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