Pirelli debuts squarer, grippier and softer 2012 F1 tires

Pirelli announced its range of tires for Formula 1 for the 2012 season at the Yas Marina circuit in Abu Dhabi. Pirelli says that the new tires have squarer profiles, increased grip, softer compounds and longer performance peak. 

Pirelli says that one of the goals for the new tires are to provide entertaining races with two to three pit stops per race. It made the color markings much more prominent on the tires to make them easier to identify. 

“After the positive experience of last year, the teams asked us to continue providing tires with the characteristics that contributed to spectacular races in 2011. And this is what we have done, optimizing the compounds and profiles in order to guarantee even better and more stable performance, combined with the deliberate degradation that characterized the P Zero range from 2011. We’re expecting unpredictable races, with a wide range of strategies and a number of pit stops," said Marco Tronchetti Provera.

Teams have four available compounds available to them: supersoft, soft, medium and hard. There are also two compounds of wet tires. All of the tires have a new profile this season and the soft, medium and hard tires have new compounds. 

Pirelli had to change the tire profile because there will be a decrease of downforce on each tire, hence the tires  are wider to give them a larger contact patch. The tires have a less rounded shoulder to make them squarer. 

We will see what kind of effect the new tires will have on racing when Formula 1 comes back at the Australian Grand Prix on March 18.