Why Canadian GP could decide future of Pirelli's hypersoft F1 tyre
Pirelli says Formula 1's upcoming Canadian Grand Prix will be an important test for its hypersoft tyre and will help determine where the new compound is used later this season
The pink-sidewalled hypersoft was tested in Abu Dhabi and at Barcelona during the winter, and appeared at a race weekend for the first time at last month's Monaco Grand Prix.
But the unique nature of the street circuit means that Pirelli sees Montreal as a better proving ground for the tyre's potential use at venues.
"It is important for us to understand the behaviour of the hypersoft in Canada," Pirelli F1 boss Mario Isola told Autosport. "That will drive the choice for some other races later in the season.
"Every time you run a tyre you learn something. Now we have knowledge of the hypersoft in a circuit that's not Abu Dhabi or Barcelona, where we already tested.
"But Monte Carlo is quite a difficult circuit. It's not so wrong to take conclusions, but we need to collect more information.
"Canada is a different track, it's more about traction, for example, so we need to understand how the degradation is from the rear, rather than the front."
Isola said the hypersoft's performance in Monaco threw up no surprises.
It was avoided by a number of drivers who qualified outside the top 10, and who had a choice of which compound to start on.
"The graining [drivers experienced during the race] was not unexpected, especially with a bit cooler temperature, and on a high fuel load the hypersoft was prone to graining," he added.
"It was quite in line with our expectations, and the data collected on Thursday.
"The hypersoft was designed for street circuits. It is quite extreme, you can see from the level of grip and the lap time.
"We already saw during the [November] test in Abu Dhabi and the pre-season test in Barcelona, that the step in grip of the hypersoft is quite high. The drivers feel the step in grip, and obviously they also feel the step in degradation.
"During the in-season test in Barcelona the most popular comment was the grip is very good in sector one and two, from sector three we start to feel degradation. Sector three is all about traction, so this is the normal behaviour of a very, very soft compound.
"In Montreal we will have more data, and that will be very important to understand where we can use the hypersoft."
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