Sep.29 (GMM) Pirelli is deliberately working to increase tyre degradation for 2027 after another Formula 1 race in which drivers were able to push almost flat-out for long stints.
Baku was the latest example.
“Those last laps were very enjoyable because there was barely any deg, really,” Max Verstappen said after the race.
“We were just pushing to the end.”
George Russell agreed: “It felt like qualifying laps, one after another.”
Kimi Antonelli had noticed the same trend two weeks earlier in Madrid.
“The degradation was much lower,” said the championship leader. “There was still some degradation, but much lower than expected.”
Pirelli itself said degradation in Baku was “extremely low”, with very little wear or graining and limited need for tyre management.
For 2027, that is exactly what the Italian supplier is trying to change.
“Our goal wasn’t so much focused on the car’s balance or stability itself, but rather on generating a higher level of degradation,” Pirelli engineer Simone Berra is quoted as saying by Marca.
“We evaluated different solutions to increase degradation on the front tyres and others to generate it on the rear axle. We’re working on the structure itself to generate more heat and greater thermal degradation.”
Berra said Pirelli has been able to work this year with the actual current-generation cars, giving it a clearer picture than during development of the 2026 tyres.
“This year we have worked not with the mule car, but with the real cars of the current season, which has allowed us to have a much clearer vision,” he said.
Pirelli’s aim is not to answer driver feedback about degradation, but to create more strategic variation and reduce the number of races in which one-stop running becomes the obvious choice.
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