Teams happy as Pirelli reduces tyre pressures

F1 teams are reacting with positive surprise to news that Pirelli will drop the pressures of its tyres in 2017.

Last year, many teams and drivers complained about the very high minimum pressures mandated by Pirelli on safety grounds.

Now, the sport is switching to much bigger, wider, grippier and less degrading tyres for 2017, but some engineers were warning that if the pressures did not drop as well, they may not actually be much faster.

"If we have to go over 25 PSI, the laptimes won’t be faster than last year," one engineer was quoted by Auto Motor und Sport.

But the German publication says Pirelli will actually mandate 22 PSI for front tyres and 18 PSI for the rears starting with Barcelona testing next week.

An engineering source at Renault reacted: "That is very brave. With those tyres pressures, we will really be able to see what the new cars can do."