Pirelli confirmed hard & soft tyres for Silverstone Circuit

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Italian tyre manufacturer Pirelli has recently confirmed that hard and soft tyres will be used in the upcoming British Grand Prix, which will take place on July 10, 2011 at the Silverstone circuit.

Despite the fact that Ferrari said their chances of finishing the race in a good position will be hampered with the use of hard compounds, Pirelli decided to pick hard and soft compounds for the Silverstone race.

These two compounds have already been used in Spanish Grand Prix, where Ferrari were unable to perform strongly on the grid with these tyres. Ferrari driver Fernando Alonso was leading on soft tyres during the Spanish race, but his teammate Felipe Massa could not make a good progress over there, as he claimed that the tyres were not supportive for him.

Recently, Massa told the media that he is ‘optimistic’ with the new upgrades of the British Grand Prix, but if Pirelli opted to bring hard tyres for the next race, then it will be difficult for him to give a strong result to his team.

He also mentioned that not only Ferrari will have to face the problems on these tyres, Red Bull and McLaren will also face issues with them at the Silverstone circuit.

Pirelli’s Paul Hembery added that they cannot take a decision only for Ferrari as they have to look at all the 12 teams.

He said, “We have 12 teams we look at and feel that we are going to make the right choice for them, and also the right choice for us of course. Our main concern is to make sure that we don't penalise any team.”

Hembery went on to add, “Some people have decided that from Barcelona the hard tyre favours those with high downforce, so we have to be careful that the strategy based on hard tyres is not going to penalise any particular team. Equally we don't want to be in the situation where we have five pitstops, so it is a balance we have to find.”

Pirelli has not yet predicted possible pitstops for the Silverstone race weekend. Let’s see how the teams manage their race on hard and soft compounds.