Pirelli are hoping to bring the P Zero White medium tyres and P Zero Yellow soft tyres to Monza, which are made to cope with the demands of it’s high-speed layout and provide plenty of scope for the teams to use different tyre strategies.
Pirelli Motorsport director Paul Hembery says: “Monza is obviously a very important race for us, both from a technical and a company point of view. We’re all looking forward to competing at home, with the championship reaching a crucial point in the season.
“On a rapid circuit like Monza the tyre strategy is sure to be vital, as it’s going to be hard to make up any time lost in the pits with the cars at full throttle for so much of the time. We expect to see a difference of about a second per lap between the soft and the medium tyre, but we’ll only know for sure once the cars start running in free practice.
“The versatility of the tyre is going to be a key element, as the rubber will have to cope with a wide range of conditions this weekend. It’s a big challenge as always, but at the same time we’re very much looking forward to being able to showcase the very best of Italian technology and know-how at home in Italy.”
Ferrari driver Fernando Alonso says: “Monza is a very special race for every driver: it is the fastest circuit on the World Championship and driving there gives you an extraordinary feeling. It is also very special for emotional reasons, especially if you are a Scuderia Ferrari driver as I experienced for the first time last year.
“Winning in Monza is incredible: winning there driving a red car is even more incredible. Being on the podium, seeing thousands of fans below you wearing red shirts and waving red flags is simply an overwhelming emotion. Our aim this year is the same as last year: to win the race.
“We are aware that we have the potential to achieve our objective but we also know that our opponents are very strong. I am sure that we will have a very exciting race, as we have seen many times so far this season already.
“The return of Pirelli in F1 has brought an increase to the show, which was one of the targets set at the beginning of the year, so we have to thank them for this – and what better occasion than their home race.”
