Dani Pedrosa claimed his first pole position of the new 1000cc MotoGP class during qualifying for the Monster Energy grand Prix de France at Le Mans ahead of his Repsol Honda teammate Casey Stoner and Monster Yamaha Tech 3 rider Andrea Dovizioso taking his first front row start for the French squad in third position.

I’m not a pole man, so I’m happy to be here for the first time this season.

Dani Pedrosa

Pedrosa leaped into pole position not far from the end of the session that saw damp conditions dominate the first half hour and many of the normal frontrunners sitting in the middle and lower placings. With riders starting the session on full wet rubber, the weather forecast for the session predicted drying conditions throughout making for an exciting hour of qualifying practice on front of the French fans.

The early stages saw many of the CRT machines sitting in unfamiliar positions on the timing screens with the majority of the factory riders opting not to push for a fast time. Names like Avintia Blusens teammates Yonny Hernandez and Ivan Silva along with Mattia Pasini (Speed Master) were all willing to push in the wet conditions leaving them in some of the top positions in the first 30 minutes. Ducati Factory Racing men Nicky Hayden and Valentino Rossi were also pushing for a fast time on wet tires and MotoGP rookie Stefan Bradl sat in pole position at one stage for the LCR Honda team.

Photo by: Repsol Media

When the second half of the session approached it was Bradl who decided to try out full slicks on the still-drying Le Mans circuit and the German paid the price when he high-sided from his RC213V on just his first flying lap but was able to get back to the pits and rejoin the session a little later. The rest of the riders then slowly started to go on track with their slick tires and it wasn’t long before the factory riders began to push through to their accustomed positions.

Stoner was first to push through to pole in his usual devastating fashion setting a time nearly 2 seconds faster than anyone else in the session on just his first lap with slick rubber. Yamaha Factory Racing’s Jorge Lorenzo was also fast on his YZR-M1 as was both Dovizioso and teammate Cal Crutchlow on the satellite Yamahas. While ‘Dovi’ continued to push and taking pole for a brief time before Stoner grabbed it back, it was Pedrosa who popped up near the end of the session to set a best lap of 1m 33.638s and good enough for his first pole of 2012.

Pedrosa was vey happy with his qualifying session but he and his team are expecting a race in uncertain weather conditions. “I’m not a pole man, so I’m happy to be here for the first time this season,” said the Spaniard who continued, “front row is always good and the team has done a great job with the bike. It’s been a difficult session, quite similar to Jerez, the track was drying up but we had some drops again in the last five minutes. So it’s been key to choose the right moment to push and to not get out of the line. Let’s see what the weather does tomorrow but we have to be ready to go fast in any conditions. The race is very long here, 28 laps, and everything can change during the race, so I hope to have a good start and to be able to keep a good pace until the end”.

Stoner remained in second with his best lap of 1m 33.941s with Dovizioso a blink of an eye behind the Australian with his best time of 1m 33.976s. Lorenzo had to content himself with a 4th place start tomorrow setting a 1m 34.104s lap time with Crutchlow continuing his good form of 2012 in 5th place (1m 34.178s). Ben Spies did well to get his Yamaha Factory Racing machine on the second row after languishing in the lower half of the timings until the final quarter with the American on a best lap of 1m 34.669s.

Stoner said after the qualifying session that he might have been able to keep pole position if it wasn’t for the unpredictable conditions. He said, “We’re really happy to be on front row, but qualifying definitely didn’t go to plan. The track was drying out and we knew we had the pace, you just had to be a little cautious in some areas that were still holding water. We felt we were fast enough to be on pole position but every time I was on a good lap or building up to one, I got held up. I tried to drop back and give myself some space but I still managed to catch up to a CRT bike in front of me which ruined that lap. Then the next lap we were doing pretty well but I saw yellow flags and rain so I backed off, unfortunately the rain wasn’t heavy enough to upset my lap and I could have continued it, but that’s the way it goes sometimes.

I think we’re looking good for the race, we’re pre tty comfortable in dry conditions but we still have warm up and a chance for the others to find something extra, so we’re going to have to improve our bike a little also and wait for the race as the weather conditions are still unpredictable,” Stoner added.

Dovizioso is very happy with his performance today and revealed he could have gone for pole if it weren’t for a problem with his bike in the dying minutes of the session. “I am really happy to be on the front row for the first time with Tech 3 and Yamaha, We have done a great job all weekend. I have been fast in every session and even in the tricky conditions at the start of qualifying I was very competitive and strong and the times were coming really easily. I am particularly happy to be on the front row because a small problem meant I was not able to be on track for the final five minutes of the session. That is the period when you improve your time and it was a pity that I couldn’t battle in the final stages because I’m sure I had a chance of getting pole position.

So to be on the front row despite not riding in the last five minutes is fantastic and I am very confident for the race tomorrow. I’m sure I have the pace to stay at the front and I am very happy to be on the front in the Tech 3 Team’s home race. I will do my best for Tech 3 and our main sponsor and event sponsor Monster,” Dovizioso said.

Rossi looked considerably more comfortable on his Ducati GP12 today than he has in the first three races of 2012 and the seven-times MotoGP World Champion starts from the front of the third row tomorrow setting a time of 1m 34.907s and one place ahead of San Carlo Honda Gresini rider Alvaro Bautista who set a best time of 1m 34.922s with Pramac Racing’s Hector Barbera in 9th (1m 34.950s). Karel Abraham (1m 35.250s) took the final place in the top ten for the Cardion AB Motoracing squad ahead of Hayden (1m 35.291s) and best of the CRT machines in Randy de Puniet (Power Electronics Aspar) in 12th with a best lap time of (1m 35.694s).

Photo by: Bridgestone Corporation

Bradl did enough to get into 13th place after his crash eventually setting his best of (1m 35.862s) while the San Carlo Honda Gresini CRT machine of Michele Pirro starts from 14th with his best qualifying effort of 1m 36.646s ahead of Hernandez (1m 37.202s) and James Ellison and the Paul Bird Motorsport team (1m 37.666s). Aleix Espargaro (Power Electronics Aspar) starts from 17th with his best lap of (1m 37.760s) while Danilo Petrucci starts from 18th (1m 37.767s) and one place ahead of Pasini who was going well early on only to fall off the pace later in the session with his best of (1m 38.198s) and the final place going to Chris Vermeulen (NGM Forward Racing) who is deputizing for injured Colin Edwards (1m 38.658s)

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Ryan Briscoe, Team Penske Chevrolet

Photo by: Michael C. Johnson

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. (May 18, 2012) – Team Penske turned up the heat Friday during the final practice session before qualifying for the 96th Indianapolis 500.

The team’s three drivers recorded fast laps among the top 11 of the day with each posting their fastest times of the week of practice. The results gave all three Penske drivers optimism heading into Saturday’s Pole Day qualifying session . “I feel like we’re making progress, for sure,” said Ryan Briscoe. “We still have some work to do. I’m still feeling maybe six or seven tenths off the winning (pole) time, but it’s in the IZOD car. We made big gains today in the balance of the car and we’re going for the pole.”

Briscoe led the team with a lap of 226.835 mph in the No. 2 IZOD Team Penske Dallara/Chevrolet. That was the second-fastest lap of the 32 cars that practiced Friday and gave the Long Beach pole winner momentum going into Pole Day.

“It’s all about the fine-tuning, but all in all it was a good day,” said Briscoe. “We certainly made the improvements and finished with the team’s best run of the day. That will help me to sleep tonight, knowing that we’re in good shape for tomorrow.”

Three-time Indy 500 winner Helio Castroneves finished just behind his teammate, recording the third-fastest lap of the day at 226.716 mph. Castroneves will go for the fifth Indianapolis 500 pole of his career on Saturday in The No. 3 Shell V-Power Pennzoil Ultra Team Penske machine.

“I felt we made a lot of improvements in our Shell V-Power Pennzoil Ultra Chevy during Fast Friday,” said Castroneves. “Today certainly helped prepare us for tomorrow and I’m really looking forward to qualifying.”

IZOD IndyCar Series points leader Will Power had a fast lap of 225.288 mph in the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Dallara/Chevrolet, giving him the 11th-best speed of the session. Power is attempting to win his first pole at the storied track and his fourth pole of 2012.

“We accomplished a fair bit with our Verizon car today,” said Power, winner of the last three IZOD IndyCar races. “We would’ve liked to find just a touch more speed, although we always want that. Looking ahead to tomorrow – we’re in good shape really and we will give it a go.”

The qualifying order for Saturday’s Pole Day has been set with Power drawing sixth, Castroneves ninth and Briscoe in the 19th position. A pole win on Saturday would add to Team Penske’s record 16 poles by seven different drivers.

Team Penske is the most successful team in the history of the Indy 500, having won the race 15 times, including five times in the last 11 years. A record 10 Team Penske drivers have won the legendary race.

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The Brazilian has struggled at the wheel of Ferrari’s difficult 2012 car so far, scoring just 2 points compared with his teammate and joint championship leader Fernando Alonso’s 61.

It has triggered speculation the Maranello based team might replace him, also because Ferrari said after Barcelona it is “expecting” Massa to improve “right away”.

Whilst working at Maranello in the driver simulator on Friday, however, Massa insisted he has not been far away from Alonso at recent races.

“I think we must also take into account that, at the moment, Fernando’s driving is amazing: he is on super form, maybe even perfect,” he is quoted as saying in a Ferrari statement.

Asked if he feels the famous Italian team’s support, he added: “Absolutely, yes, I feel the whole team stands by me.

“Obviously, they are not happy with the results and neither am I: we all want to get out of this (situation) and return to normal.

“It’s possible and for sure it’s what I want and I know that with the team’s help we will manage it,” said Massa.

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Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport said the ousted and formerly banned Italian is busily writing regulations for a ‘GP1′ championship.

They could be adopted should the FIA not sign up to the 2013 Concorde Agreement, according to the report.

Apparently, the political rumblings in F1 at present are not limited to the sport’s planned floatation, or Bernie Ecclestone’s spat with Mercedes.

Cost-control is also a buzzword. As reported recently, the vast majority of F1′s teams want the FIA to enshrine cost-cutting in the actual sporting regulations, even to the point of pushing for a once highly-controversial budget cap.

F1 chief executive Ecclestone, however, is not famously close with the FIA’s new president Jean Todt, and according to Auto Motor und Sport he is not convinced that the Paris federation needs to write and control the rules.

Enter Briatore. The German report said Ferrari will be a fan of the former Renault chief’s rumoured regulations, as they steer away from the premium on aerodynamics.

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But Caterham’s Russian driver, who moved from Renault (now Lotus) at the end of last season, does not believe reports that Ferrari could sack the struggling Brazilian imminently, such as after next weekend’s Monaco grand prix.

“I don’t think they’ll fire Massa just now. At least not until August,” Petrov is quoted by the state owned Moscow news agency Ria Novosti.

There are six races until August’s month-long calendar ‘summer’ break.

So while Petrov thinks Massa’s career is genuinely in danger, he does not agree that Ferrari is ramping up the pressure on the 30-year-old.

“I wouldn’t say that Ferrari are criticising him that strongly,” he said. “They’re not saying he has one more chance or anything like that.”

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Just 24 hours after shocking the world of sport Casey Stoner was back on top of the proceedings at the first two Free Practice sessions for the Monster Energy Grand Prix de France at Le Mans with the Australian being following by teammate Dani Pedrosa and Yamaha Factory Racing’s Jorge Lorenzo.

After yesterday’s announcement, I definitely felt a weight off my shoulders when I got on the bike this morning.

Casey Stoner

Stoner began the day where he left off in the first free practice session this morning and continued his pace in the afternoon and ended the first day with a best lap of 1m 33.740s to Pedrosa’s 1m 34.005s with Lorenzo not far behind on his best time of 1m 34.136s.

Speaking about his first outing since announcing his retirement Stoner said, “The sessions today went quite well for us. Believe it or not, today we were trying to create chatter, so we can make the most use of this dry time on track to understand it a little better and make some improvements for the rest of the season. We are happy to use some of the sessions to focus on fixing the chatter issue, and not worry about the set up immediately. We started to find some chatter at the end of the day when we switched to the hard front tyre and hopefully it will stay dry tomorrow so we can continue to work on this.”

Stoner also spoke briefly about how he felt on the bike after telling the world of his plans to leave the sport at the end of this year. “After yesterday’s announcement, I definitely felt a weight off my shoulders when I got on the bike this morning. The last two races I’ve had a lot of thoughts running through my mind and this weekend I already feel better knowing it’s off my chest and we can now focus on the rest of the season, and try to enjoy it,” the two times World Champion said.

Pedrosa was happy with his first two outings on the RC213V at the French circuit. He said, “The feeling was pretty good overall; normally with these cold conditions the track here is very slippery, but the tyres worked well, the grip level is good and we managed two good session practices. We still have some work to do, mainly on the corner entry, but the first impression has been positive so far. It looks like the temperature will drop and some rain is coming, so it’s been useful to have time in the dry to get the feeling at a track like this, where you have a lot of wheelie. I didn’t test the new front Bridgestone tyre today, but I would like to do it tomorrow if it’s dry.”

Photo by: Bridgestone Corporation

Lorenzo worked on his race pace today and is content with his progress so far. “This morning we had some difficulty entering the corners, I didn’t trust the bike so much. This afternoon we made some changes to the rear and it improved the feeling and the lap time a lot. I did a half race simulation and we had a good pace. We are now ready for a dry race but everyone says it is going to rain which will completely change the conditions,” said Lorenzo.

San Carlo Honda Gresini rider Alvaro Bautista had a good first day’s outing on his Honda RC213V sitting in 4th place on the timing sheets recording a best time of 1m 34.437s and one place ahead of Ben Spies on the second Yamaha Factory Racing YZR-M1 (1m 34.467s) with Monster Yamaha Tech 3 riders Andrea Dovizioso in 6th (1m 34.585s) and his teammate Cal Crutchlow in 7th with his best time of 1m 34.610s.

Hector Barbera finished the day as the top Ducati rider for his Pramac Racing Team with a best time of 1m 35.079s while Valentino Rossi in 9th on a best lap of 1m 35.112s and his Ducati Racing teammate Nicky Hayden in 10th recording a time of 1m 35.132s.

Stefan Bradl ended day one in 11th place on his LCR Honda (1m 35.201s) while Karel Abraham was over half a second off the German rookie’s pace with his best lap of 1m 35.787s. Randy de Puniet again finished the day as the top CRT rider (1m 36.438s) despite nursing bruised rubs following a crash two weeks ago at Estoril.

Photo by: Yamaha MotoGP

The rest of the CRT machines were next in line with Yonny Hernandez (Avintia Blusens) in 13th place on his best time of 1m 36.928s ahead of Mattia Pasini on his Speed Master ART machine (1m 37.093s) and San Carlo Honda Gresini rider Michele Pirro next in line with a best time of 1m 37.310s.

Aleix Espargaro (Power Electronics Aspar) ended with a best time of 1m 37.585s ahead of Danilo Petrucci for the Came IodaRacing team on a best lap of 1m 38.255s with Avintia Blusens rider Ivan Silva in 18th ahead of James Ellison (Paul Bird Motorsport) with a time of 1m 38.395s. Chris Vermeulen re-entered the MotoGP paddock this week filling in for Colin Edwards who is out of action after breaking his left collarbone after being hit by Randy de Puniet’s errant machine last time out in Estoril.

For the past few years, the energy drink owned team has enjoyed its dominance largely because of the airflow magic wrought by Briton Newey.

But in 2012, with reigning back to back world champion Sebastian Vettel just one of the five different winners so far, Pirelli rubber is king.

“I doubt Williams really know why they were so strong,” team boss Christian Horner, referring to Pastor Maldonado’s shock Barcelona pole and win last weekend, is quoted by Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport.

Horner insisted that, rather than the winner being the team with the best overall package at each race, success this season is about “understanding the characteristics of the tyre and the window in which they work”.

“It’s not that the midfield teams have made a quantum leap aerodynamically from last year to this year,” Horner insisted. “But from a performance point of view, this is what they have done.”

The logical conclusion is that aerodynamic cleverness has taken a back seat.

So will Red Bull knock a million or two off Newey’s huge annual retainer?

Horner laughed. “Adrian is not just an aerodynamicist, and aerodynamics are still important anyway. But now it’s about harmonising everything, and these tyres are simply remarkably complex.

“Two races ago Nico Rosberg dominated, but in Spain he was almost lapped. It is very difficult to predict what’s going to happen next — a nightmare for the bookmakers,” he smiled. “A lottery.”

The situation has split F1 into two camps: those who love it, and those who do not.

“It has become like a GP2 championship,” Maldonado, the junior category’s 2010 champion, is quoted by The National newspaper.

“The drivers can make the difference and the teams can still work on the strategy and the car.”

The bizarre situation has left everyone scratching their heads, like Jenson Button.

He can scarcely believe that what looked a championship car – his 2012 McLaren – was beaten in Spain by Shanghai winner Nico Rosberg, who was almost lapped.

“The Red Bulls did a better job at the weekend than us in terms of points, but still they weren’t quick when you compare them to Williams, Sauber, Lotus and Ferrari,” he told PA Sport.

“Five different teams winning five different races, we really don’t know what’s going on, and I think that’s the same up and down the pitlane.”

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Hinwil, 17th May 2012 – At the Spanish Grand Prix last Sunday Sauber F1 Team driver Kamui Kobayashi managed to equal what was up to then his best race result in his Formula One career. The Japanese came fifth at the Circuit de Catalunya, just as he had done at the Monaco Grand Prix in 2011.

Kamui, once again you have managed to score ten points for the team. What are your thoughts looking back at the race?

Kamui Kobayashi: “The most important thing for us was to have confirmation that our new aero package was working well. It is definitely a step forward. After I had a difficult qualifying because of an hydraulic problem, I had to start ninth. I think the race performance as such was better than my fifth place suggests. Traffic in the race makes it more difficult to handle the tyres. If you looked at Lewis Hamilton, who was fastest in qualifying, you could also see it wasn’t an easy job for him to improve positions in the race traffic after he was forced to start last on the grid. Overall I am very happy and proud of what a great job the guys back in the factory did to further develop the car and, of course, what the crew at the race track did.”

Does the Sauber C31-Ferrari’s new aero package deliver what you expected?

Kamui Kobayashi: “Yes, I think we have improved in the areas we wanted to. The car is better balanced through the corners now. In terms of stability I would say it is about the same, but stability always depends a lot on the track conditions.”

You had two super overtaking manoeuvres in Spain. Have you regained confidence in the car?

Kamui Kobayashi: “I think so, I definitely had confidence in the car in Barcelona when overtaking. I also feel with the update we can now handle the tyre management better during the race. We had been a bit weak on that side before.”

How do you think the car can perform on the narrow street circuit of Monaco?

Kamui Kobayashi: “It obviously provides an entirely different challenge than that of the Circuit de Catalunya. In Monaco the car is bouncing on bumps, you have understeer and oversteer when you are driving on the limit and the track doesn’t forgive any mistakes. I think our car will be better in Monaco than it was last year because it has improved in slow corners. In 2011 I finished fifth, so the target should be to finish higher up this year. However, even if you are given the best car in Monaco, in the end a lot is down to the driver to get the ultimate tenths of a second out of it.”

You will be attending the Champions League final of Chelsea FC versus Bayern Munich on Saturday. Have you ever been in a football stadium before for such a big match?

Kamui Kobayashi: “No, I have never seen a match of that level. I only attended some games of lower leagues in Italy. Normally I am not a big fan of watching other sports, as I would rather concentrate on my own training. But now after I have decided to be a supporter of Chelsea FC I am very much looking forward to seeing them play in the stadium. This is professional sport at the highest level and I am getting very excited about going to Munich on Saturday!”

What are your targets for the forthcoming races?

Kamui Kobayashi: “We have seen five different winners in five races. So you could say almost everything is possible this year. I believe we have a good car and good chances for good results. The final outcome always depends on a lot of factors. But what you have to do for success is to get every small thing perfectly right over the entire weekend. And this is what I’m aiming at.”

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Casey Stoner has rocked the Motorsports world by announcing that he will retire from MotoGP at the end of the 2012 season just days after denying rumors about his future. The Australian double MotoGP Champion told the assembled media of his plans to leave the sport at the official press conference ahead of this weekend’s Monster Energy Grand Prix of France at Le Mans.

I will be finishing my career at the end of this season in MotoGP.

Casey Stoner

Speaking about his decision Stoner said he took quite a while to think about his future in the sport and took into account becoming a father for the first time earlier this year and his desire to spend time with wife Adriana and daughter Alessandra.

Stoner said, ”After a long time thinking, a lot of time talking with my family and my wife, this has been coming for a couple of years now, but at the end of this 2012 season I will be not racing in the 2013 Championship. I will be finishing my career at the end of this season in MotoGP, and go forward in different things in my life.”

After so many years doing the sport I love, so many sacrifices he has given me and my family after so many years trying to get to where we are right now, the sport has changed and changed to the point that I’m not enjoying. I have no passion for it and I think it’s best that I retire now,” he added.

Photo by: Bridgestone Corporation

Rumors surfaced at the third round of this year’s championship at Estoril in Portugal that the reigning MotoGP champion was considering a retirement after refusing a two-year contract with current employers Honda but he played it down when asked.

However, at today’s press conference Stoner said that he is not happy with the way the sport is progressing. “After so many years of doing this sport which I love, and which myself and my family made so many sacrifices for, after so many years of trying to get to where we have gotten to at this point, this sport has changed a lot and it has changed to the point where I am not enjoying it,” he said while adding, “I don’t have the passion for it and so at this time it’s better if I retire now.”

Stoner won his first MotoGP title with Ducati in 2007 after entering the premier class in 2006 with LCR Honda and then went on to repeat his success at the pinnacle of motorcycle road racing with his Repsol Honda team. The New South Wales man has amassed a stunning 35 wins, 35 pole positions and 62 podium finishes in MotoGP alone.

Stoner has also been a critic of the newly introduced CRT class that he said he would have no interest in racing if MotoGP series owners Dorna continued to move in the direction of. He ended his press conference statement by giving his feeling on the progression of the sport.

Photo by: Repsol Media

“There are a lot of things that have disappointed me, and also a lot of things I have loved about this sport, but unfortunately the balance has gone in the wrong direction. And so, basically, we won’t be continuing any more. It would be nice if I could say I would stay one more year, but then where does it stop? So we decided to finish everything as we are now,” Stoner said.

Stoner currently leads this year’s championship by one point ahead of Yamaha Factory Racing’s Jorge Lorenzo and Repsol Honda teammate Dani Pedrosa in third place.

Milan, May 16, 2012 – Pirelli brings around 1800 tyres to each grand prix, but the destiny of these tyres is mapped out long before they arrive at the circuit. The tyres for each race are made in a specific production run before the grand prix.

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They are manufactured at Pirelli’s state of the art motorsport facility in Izmit, just outside the Turkish capital of Istanbul. During the production process, each tyre is allocated a barcode provided by the FIA (the sport’s governing body). This barcode is the tyre’s ‘passport’, which is embedded firmly into the structure during the vulcanisation process and cannot be swapped. The code contains all the details of each tyre, making it traceable throughout the race weekend with Pirelli’s RTS (Racing Tyre System) software, which can read and update all the data.

For European grands prix, the tyres are then transported to Pirelli’s logistics and distribution hub at Didcot in the United Kingdom. Once they arrive there, an FIA official receives a list of bar codes, which relate to the tyres that will be taken to the next grand prix. The FIA (the sport’s governing body) then allocates bar codes – and therefore tyres – to each individual teams at random. Pirelli itself is not involved in this process at all, meaning that the Italian firm cannot influence which tyres are allocated to which teams – although a rigorous quality control process in Izmit ensures that all the tyres leaving the factory are identical.

Once at the circuit, the tyres are then allocated to the teams in strict compliance with the list that has been previously prepared by the FIA. The bar codes allow both the FIA and Pirelli to ensure that the right teams, according to the regulations, are using the correct tyres.

Each team is allocated a Pirelli engineer, who works exclusively with that team for all of the year, but the database that every engineer works off allows the engineer to see only information relating specifically to his or her team over the weekend, so that individual strategies are not compromised. Development data is overseen by Pirelli’s senior engineers, who monitor all the information in order to assist the research team in charge of shaping the next generation of tyres.

As Pirelli’s motorsport director Paul Hembery points out: “Even if we wanted to – which we certainly don’t – there is no way that we could influence which tyres are being allocated to which teams, as this is a job taken care of entirely by the FIA once the tyres have left the Izmit factory. It is just another way that impartiality can be ensured among all the teams, which is a huge priority for us as exclusive tyre supplier. The way that our team engineers work also respects this confidentiality, which is always of paramount importance.”

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COUNTDOWN TO A GRAND PRIX

Before the grand prix:

• Pirelli, with the approval from the FIA, selects the tyres for the race – a softer compound plus a harder compound.

• Production of the tyre allocation begins at the Izmit factory in Turkey. We supply approximately 1800 Formula One tyres for each race; about 700 more if the race is a GP2 round as well as 600 for GP3.

Two weeks before the grand prix:

• For European events the tyres for the race are transported by road from Izmit to Didcot: a journey of approximately 3100 kilometres that takes three days.

• The tyres arrive at the Didcot facility and have their bar codes scanned into Pirelli’s system. The FIA (the governing body of world motorsport) is then notified of the bar codes.

• At random, the FIA allocates certain barcodes to each team. The allocated tyres are then sorted out by team in Didcot and loaded into seven trucks for transportation to the grand prix (four trucks for F1, three trucks for GP2 and GP3).

One week before the grand prix:

• The trucks set off from Didcot for the race, normally arriving on the Monday before the race takes place. The 18 fitters set up the fitting area and the barcodes are confirmed again with the FIA.

Five days before the grand prix:

• The fitters start fitting tyres onto the rims. It takes an experienced fitter 2.5 minutes to fit one tyre from start to finish: for all the tyres of the weekend they need two days. The teams own the wheels: they are brought to Pirelli at the circuit for the tyres to be fitted onto them.

During the grand prix weekend:

• The sporting regulations determine that one set of the harder dry tyre must be returned after the first practice session, with one set of the softer and one set of the harder compound to be returned before the start of the third practice session. A further set of softer and one of the harder compound must be returned before the start of qualifying. This means that each driver has six sets of the dry compounds (three of each specification) available for qualifying and the race.

• Tyres that are returned get taken off their rims, as they won’t be used anymore, with the rims being returned to the teams.

After the grand prix:

• All remaining tyres, both used and unused, are taken off their rims and then transported back to Didcot. When they arrive, the tyres are taken to a specialised plant where they are shredded and then burned at very high temperature in order to produce fuel for cement factories. The material produced in this process can also be used for road surfaces and other industrial applications.

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