Pirelli not planning any big changes to Formula 1 tyres for 2013

Formula 1's official tyre supplier opted for an aggressive strategy with its compound choice for 2012, which helped contribute to an unpredictable start to the campaign.

And although it does not expect such radical differences for 2013, it is currently evaluating its plans and has scheduled a test at Barcelona later this month to help it make final decisions.

Paul Hembery, Pirelli's motorsport director, told AUTOSPORT about the company's plans for next year: "We are a little bit undecided at the moment.

"We have a few routes we could take; perhaps changing the structure, but we are also working on some compounds. We are undecided, so we will see how the next test session goes.

"We are at Barcelona, and that is the point where we will decide what we are going to do for next year. But there will be nothing too dramatic."

Hembery insists, however, that Pirelli wants to ensure that teams do not get too comfortable with their tyres - and that they have to work hard to get the best from the rubber.

"I think it still needs to be a challenge, but also something that teams can work with," he said. "I think they will benefit from knowing this year's car and it will be less modified going forward than the switch from last year to this year and that will help them."

Pirelli has written to F1's team to ask them for their feelings on tyre modifications for next year, and the consensus appears to be only that changes are made to wet weather tyres.

"That [letter] was out of courtesy, and there are a few things with the rain tyres that we would like to do. But testing is a problem.

"The only real test facility [for wet running] is Paul Ricard and that is fully booked up; so we are trying to find a way of testing. We want to do some work with the full rain to make it less conservative in terms of compound."