As announced in a recent report prior to the Australian Grand Prix, the Italian company has received permission from the International Automobile Federation (FIA) to test a 5th compound this year, in selected Friday practice sessions, aimed at coping with extreme corners such as Turkey's famous Turn 8.
It has now been confirmed that the first venue that will be used by Pirelli to test those “experimental hard compound” tires will be the Sepang International Circuit. However, it's yet to be decided whether the first or the second practice (or both) will see the teams fit the tires onto their single-seaters.
“The new tire is an experimental hard compound that could be used in the future,” confirmed Pirelli's motorsport director Paul Hembery in a statement for the press.
“With testing not allowed during the season, this gives us a valuable opportunity to gather more data and feedback, while it also gives the teams an interesting taste of what could be coming in the future,” he added.
Up until now, Pirelli has developed the same type of compounds created by Bridgestone last year, namely super-soft, soft, medium and hard. However, due to the higher level of tire degradation experienced by the Pirelli rubber, the Italian company decided to develop a new compound aimed at coping with demanding forces applied to the tires at some circuits, such as Istanbul Park. Whether the aforementioned tires will actually be used in 2011, that's yet to be determined.
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