JANUARY 9, 2015

F1 to challenge laptime records in 2015 says Hembery

Paul Hembery, official tyre supplier Pirelli's F1 chief, is expecting the field to speed up significantly in 2015.

Last year, the Italian marque took a deliberately conservative approach to its 2014 rubber, having gone through a tumultuous 2013 and with the uncertainties of the new turbo V6 era in mind.

As a result, and with the high-downforce, V8 powered era in the past, lap times last year generally suffered.

"Last season," Hembery agreed, "the power unit manufacturers, the teams, and ourselves (Pirelli) learned a lot.

"It will be very interesting to see what awaits us in Australia," he is quoted by Russia's f1news.ru. "Only then will we get a real idea of the scale of changes that have occurred.

"At Pirelli we already have specific information about what we can expect in the new season, and I can say that some of it is very interesting, and that is to put it mildly.

"We expect a significant increase in pace, and when you consider how much laptimes normally improve through a season, I think by the end of 2015 we will be getting close to breaking records," Hembery added.

(GMM)