F1 season opens in Australia with Pirelli Tyres

ERJ staff report (DS)

Melbourne, Australia -- After 33 days of testing (15 at official tests and 18 in private testing) Pirelli's Formula One experience is finally about to get underway. The Formula One action starts this weekend in the same country where it ended for Pirelli exactly 19 years, four months and 24 days earlier, at the 1991 Australian Grand Prix in Adelaide - which was red-flagged after just 14 laps due to torrential rain and remains the shortest Formula One race to date.

This year, the race is being held in Melbourne's Albert Park for the 16th consecutive year, and marks race one of Pirelli's three-season agreement with the FIA, the governing body of world motorsport. But there is likely to be just as much drama in Melbourne as there was last time in Adelaide.

Pirelli's new PZero rubber is designed to help promote overtaking, both on the track and in the pits, while KERS makes a return and the moveable rear wing is also introduced. The hard and the soft compounds will be brought to Australia, with the soft tyres providing plenty of speed and grip while the hard tyres are more biased towards durability.

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Press release from Pirelli