As confirmed by the FIA's World Motor Sport Council (WMSC) earlier this week, Pirelli will be allowed to test “experimental” tires during some Friday practice sessions this year, in order to further develop its tire strategy for the 2011 campaign. The first of these sessions is believed to be in Malaysia, where Pirelli will reportedly test a “extra-hard” compound.
The aforementioned report states that Pirelli will test the extra-hard compound in preparation for the Turkish Grand Prix, where the Istanbul circuit's Turn 8 is increasingly demanding of the tires.
So far, the Italian tire maker has been providing the F1 teams with only 4 types of rubber, continuing the tire strategy of their predecessors Bridgestone, as follows: super-soft, soft, medium and hard. However, all tires (except for the hard ones) have been intensively criticized by the drivers for their highly degradable characteristics.
Pirelli stated many times this winter that the reason for their tires' high level of degradation rests in the need to insure multiple pit stop strategies through most races of the 2011 season. During a recent meeting between Pirelli, the FIA's race director Charlie Whiting and the F1 teams, it was believed that most races would go down on a 3-pit stop basis.
Nevertheless, during the ongoing test in Barcelona, Sebastien Buemi's (STR) race simulation on Wednesday resulted in 4 pit stops.
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