Breaking news
Formula 1 German GP
Wet German GP would be a step into the unknown - Pirelli
Pirelli admits that rain in the German GP will be a step into the unknown as the Italian company's 2019 wet and intermediates have not been run on track this year.
Adam Cooper
Edited: Jul 29, 2019, 1:25 PM
Copy link
Share on Viber
Heavy rain arrived at Hockenheim shortly before noon on Sunday, triggering a red flag in the Porsche Supercup race.
Most drivers on the F1 grid have no experience with the current tyres because there have been no wet test sessions or race weekends. However, a wet weather test for 2020 tyres at Paul Ricard in late May has potentially given Max Verstappen, Charles Leclerc, Pierre Gasly and Sebastian Vettel and head start over their rivals.
More from Hockenheim:
- Norris gets grid penalty after battery problems
- Ricciardo: Important to keep Renault criticism "constructive"
- Wolff expected Mercedes to be "much more competitive"
They are the only drivers who have driven their current cars on any form of wet tyre, although they would not be told exactly what they were using, or if the tyres they were using were identical to or based on the 2019 product.
Both the wet and intermediate have changed for this year relative to 2018, with new compounds.
The tyres were developed last season over three tests on artificially soaked tracks, with Ferrari (Fiorano in April), Mercedes (Paul Ricard in May) and McLaren (Paul Ricard in September, where Lando Norris was the driver).
"It will be interesting if we have a wet track, because nobody tested the wet and intermediate before," said Pirelli F1 boss Mario Isola.
"We just have data coming from the tyre tests, but nothing coming from a race weekend. We had a few laps on intermediates, but nothing representative of proper wet conditions.
"They are different form 2018 because last year we had two compounds for intermediates, and two compounds and for wets.
"One was for cold conditions and low severity circuits, the other one was for higher roughness and more severe circuits. This year we have just one.
"With the new product the wet is with a new compound, and also a different profile, and the intermediate is a different compound. Both are suitable for different conditions.
"This is the to make the life for the teams easier, because with two compounds and not a lot of testing, it was really difficult to understand the performance of the two compounds.
"But it's also true that they have not tested them before. So there is a bit of unknown going into the wet conditions."
Norris, who ran the 2019 prototypes on last year's McLaren, says he still has a lot to learn.
"I don't know what tyres they were and if they are the ones we are running this year," he said. "But I did the Pirelli test last year, obviously was in last year's car not this year's car.
"It is going to be a challenge, not only for ourselves, but learning and understand how these cars work in the wet."
That challenge involves knowing where the crossover is.
"We hope they're not too dissimilar to last year," said Romain Grosjean. "We hope we know where the kind of window is, or the lower part of the window, and we hope we get there. There's not much you can do about the weather, so let's see."
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Haas closer to understanding current car problems
Next article Norris gets grid penalty after battery problems
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Adam Cooper
RB: Tsunoda “mentally on a different level” in 2024
Formula 1
Formula 1
Japanese GP
RB: Tsunoda “mentally on a different level” in 2024
Andretti planning F2 and F3 entries to promote US talent to F1 team
Formula 1
Formula 1
Andretti planning F2 and F3 entries to promote US talent to F1 team
Andretti F1 team formally opens new Silverstone facility
Formula 1
Formula 1
Andretti F1 team formally opens new Silverstone facility
Latest news
Charles Leclerc penalised for Liam Lawson clash; Kimi Antonelli and Oliver Bearman also punished after F1 Brazilian GP
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
Sao Paulo GP
Charles Leclerc penalised for Liam Lawson clash; Kimi Antonelli and Oliver Bearman also punished after F1 Brazilian GP
Max Verstappen "needs to understand what happened" after "night and day" F1 comeback in Brazilian GP
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
Sao Paulo GP
2 min
Max Verstappen "needs to understand what happened" after "night and day" F1 comeback in Brazilian GP
LIVE: NASCAR Cup season finale at Homestead lap-by-lap updates
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Homestead-Miami
27 min
LIVE: NASCAR Cup season finale at Homestead lap-by-lap updates
Kyle Larson wins 2026 NASCAR Cup championship with Stage 1 clinch at Homestead
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Homestead-Miami
32 min
Kyle Larson wins 2026 NASCAR Cup championship with Stage 1 clinch at Homestead
Feature
Discover prime content
How F1’s rules got to be so complex
Formula 1
By Pat Symonds
How F1’s rules got to be so complex
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe