Pirelli expecting ’significant’ speed boost in 2015

Pirelli boss Paul Hembery is expecting a much faster field of 2015.

Last year, among the criticisms of F1’s all-new turbo V6 format was that laptimes took a slide in comparison to the popular and screaming V8s of the past.

And Pirelli, F1’s official tyre supplier, took some of the blame.

"Some teams thought we were too cautious in 2014," Hembery is quoted by Spain’s El Mundo Deportivo.

"But it’s easy to say that in hindsight. We had no real data, and now we have a lot."

The Briton, however, said Pirelli is not needing to make many changes to the tyres for 2015.

That is because every indication so far is that the field of 2015 will be considerably quicker in 2015, a year into the radical new rules.

"We expect a significant leap in terms of performance," said Hembery, "because the engines have developed and will be more powerful.

"But above all the teams now have a year of experience with the new technologies," he added.

The Spanish report mentioned a laptime leap from 2014 to 2015 in the order of two or three seconds, but Hembery was not willing to make a more detailed prediction.

"From our point of view," he said, "it will not be until China for the third race before we can get a real feel for what has improved."