Pirelli optimistic new F1 tyres will deliver more exciting racing in 2012

Formula 1's tyre supplier has aimed to close the laptime difference between its compounds this year, so as to throw up more strategy options for teams balancing tyre degradation against the number of pitstops they need to make.

Although the cool temperatures at Jerez, allied to the nature of the circuit, make it hard to say for sure what the situation will be at the hotter opening races, Pirelli's motorsport director Paul Hembery is upbeat about the early evidence.

"From the afternoon running this week, when we have got into 20 degrees plus [track temperature], we have good indications certainly between the soft and the medium that 0.6 seconds appears to be the performance differential," he explained. "For a four kilometre long track, that is what we were hoping for.

"We also know the warm-up is better on the medium and the hard tyres, which was a criticism we had last year - getting the tyres into the right temperature, particularly for some of the cars in the mid grid who had less downforce and were struggling to get them up to temperature. So that is another positive comment we have had back.

"The drivers are all generally talking about having the cars well balanced, and I think part of that is the fact that they have been able to understand the tyres better and design the cars around them better for this season. The overall feedback has been very positive."

When asked if the laptime differences and degradation data put in into the window Pirelli was after to make the racing exciting, Hembery said: "Absolutely. That is what we want to do, and even the initial indications are that that will happen.

"A team will make a decision, to make one pit stop less and stay out longer on a medium/hard tyre. Last year everyone pushed the maximum performance out of the soft tyre as there was no advantage elsewhere because the gap was so big. Teams could not overcome the 1.5 seconds through degradation."