Pirelli must be revelling in all the publicity it is getting for its Formula One tyres.

The tyres manufacturer is on the receiving end of the credit and the blame for the current erratic results from the last four Grand Prix races, according to F1SA.com.

It is the first time in almost 30 years that four different cars, namely McLaren, Ferrari, Mercedes and Red Bull, have won the opening four races of the season.

According to Marc Surer, Swiss commentator and former F1 driver: “The explanation is Pirelli, it’s the tyres.”

Surer told Austrian television Servus TV: “It’s been a question of who can make them work, and that is depending on a number of factors.”

The F1SA report details why some teams are struggling to get to grips with the tyres. It points out that some cars require the tyres to be running hot and working hard before they deliver their pace, whilst others only find the ’sweet spot’ in cold conditions.

Red Bull racer Jenson Button, who won at Melbourne, said: “We know we were slow (in Bahrain) but we don’t understand why.”

While Mercedes boss Norbert Haug points out: “The challenge is how to use the tyres, how to set up your car.”

And Red Bull’s Christian Horner agreed: “I think this year the tyre has dominated performance and I think it’s crucial to try and understand how they work.”

“It’s clear,” Lotus’ Eric Boullier added, “that the key for performance is the tyres.”

Alex Kapadia, Operations Team

By Denna Bowman

Continental has been awarded ‘Best Buy’ status for two of its ContiPremiumContact 5 and ContiEcoContact 5 tyres by Which?

The consumer champion’s endorsements were achieved for two different tyres sizes, 165/70 R14T and 205/55 R16V, and are seen as an important indicator for motorists looking for the best product available.

Which? tested 26 tyres in two sizes, including 12 different brands in size 165/70 R14T and 14 in 205/55 R16V, adding; “Continental has been very successful with its two new tyres, topping the table in both our test sizes.”

Taking top honours following its recent launch, the ContiPremiumContact 5 has been awarded best buy status for one of the most popular sizes in the market, the 205/55 R16W commonly fitted to medium cars such as the BMW 1 Series, Ford Focus and VW Passat.

While the ContiPremiumContact 5 beat off competition to take top spot with an overall rating of 70%.

Jonathan Hayter, product manager for Continental, said: “This is another great endorsement for Continental.

“Both the ContiPremiumContact 5 and ContiEcoContact 5 deliver outstanding performance and give motorists greater safety when it is most needed.

“The ContiEcoContact 5 delivers reduced CO2 emissions and 20% better rolling resistance than its predecessor, thanks to the functionalised polymer chains.

“While our newly launched ContiPremiumContact 5 builds on the success of its predecessor, delivering exceptional all round braking performance.”

By Denna Bowman

Cash-strapped drivers are putting themselves, their passengers and other road users at serious risk of injury by opting for part worn tyres, according to the UK’s leading tyre safety group.

TyreSafe issued the stark warning after testing a random sample of 50 part-worn tyres during a month-long nationwide investigation.

The tyres were inspected by an independent tyre expert and the alarming results found that 98 per cent of the tyres were being sold illegally.

However, of even more concern was the fact that over a third of the tyres were found to contain potentially dangerous forms of damage or non-compliance.

One tyre was described by the inspection engineer as having the “potential to kill” as it still contained a metal object penetrating 5cm through the tread in a manner which was likely to result in sudden and total tyre failure had it been fitted to a vehicle.

Other serious safety breaches included dangerous and unsafe repairs, exposed cords, bead damage and evidence of runflat damage.

Stuart Jackson, chairman of TyreSafe, commented: “Although a number of clear regulations exist which permit the sale of part worn tyres, it’s obvious from our investigation that these are not being adhered to.

“Not only are drivers putting their own lives at risk, but they are also endangering their passengers, which in many cases may be their children, and other road users.

“Before buying part worn tyres I would urge drivers to ask themselves if the risk of buying part worn tyres is really worth it?”

Customer feedback is really important to us, it helps us to offer the best mobile tyres fitting service in the UK and we are always delighted to pass praise and kind comments on to our teams and their fitters.

So we were really pleased to receive this email Mrs McAllister sent to our Head Office, after she called on the services of our Luton branch. This is what she wrote: “I would just like to say I have just had your fitter Darren here to fit a tyre on my sons car.

“I would like to say what a pleasure he was. He telephone me early in a lovely cheerful manner and told me what time he would be with me.

“He then arrived promptly he seemed really happy in his work and was well mannered and polite. He is a credit to your company.”

Thanks Mrs McAllister for taking the time to email your feedback - Darren was delighted you were so happy.

Sabrina, Head Office

Seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher is fuming with Pirelli, accusing the Italian company of supplying tyres that do not befit Formula 1.

The Mercedes driver believes that the tyres are becoming too much of a big deal because of the level of wear and degradation they suffer.

However, Pirelli had been specifically asked to produces tyres to spice up the racing, after taking over from Bridgestone as the sole supplier from Bridgestone in 2011.

Schumacher complained: “Everyone has to drive well below a driver’s and, in particular, the car’s limits to maintain the tyres.”

Talking to reporters in the paddock of the Bahrain International Circuit after Sunday’s race in Sakhir, he added: “I’m not happy about the situation.

“I just question whether the tyres should play such a big importance.

“They should last a bit longer, and that you can drive at normal racing car speed and not cruise around like we have a safety car,” he added, pointing out that it wasn’t just one or two cars with the degradation issues but a good 80 per cent of the field who were suffering. “If it was a one-off car issue, you could say it’s up to us to deal with it.”

Paul Hembery, Pirelli’s director of motorsport, played down Schumacher’s comments, and said: “The competition has never been closer and part of that is down to the fact that everyone has exactly the same opportunities and challenges with the tyres. It is down to them to make the best of it.

“Formula one has always been a meritocracy - in the end the best engineers and drivers will always succeed.”

Alex Kapadia, Operations Team

By Alex Kapadia

Tyres held the key to Sebastian Vettel’s victory at the Bahrain Grand Prix, after he selected a three-stop strategy to clinch his 22nd career win.

The Red Bull driver started off using the P Zero Yellow soft tyres, and then moved onto the P Zero White medium after 11 laps before completing his final stints on the P Zero Yellow soft followed by the P Zero White medium.

But it was Lotus who caused a sensation, with Kimi Raikkonen taking second place, followed by his team-mate Romain Grosjean.

Paul Hembery, Pirelli’s motorsport director, commented: “This was certainly a very technically challenging race, on a circuit that we had never experienced in racing conditions before. Nonetheless, we chose to bring our soft compound together with the medium in order to provide plenty of opportunities for strategy.

“Although degradation was a factor in this race, which was already evident from the tactics adopted in qualifying, the tyres stood up extremely well to the demands that were placed on them.

“During the closing stages of the race, the priority for the drivers was to ensure that the tyres didn’t fall off ‘the cliff’ of performance: a task that they all managed very well.

“The closeness of the racing this year, during which we have narrowed the performance gap between our compounds, is reflected in the fact that we’ve seen four different winners in four races.

“It was also a great result for Lotus with two cars on the podium – and the first podium for our former test driver Romain Grosjean, who was with us when we tested at Bahrain in 2010: the experience was clearly useful to him. As for Kimi, he seems to have made the transition from our rally tyres to our P Zero race tyres pretty well!”

By Alex Kapadia

Reigning world champion Sebastian Vettel claimed his first pole position of the year at the Bahrain Grand Prix using the P Zero Yellow soft tyres.

With eight different teams in the top 10, pole position hung in the balance until the closing seconds at the Sakhir circuit.

Paul Hembery, Pirelli’s motorsport director, commented: “We’ve seen a great job from Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull, who demonstrated their ability to get the most out of the tyres by extracting every last bit of performance from the softer compound.

“With the whole field having closed up considerably in terms of pure pace this year, every single advantage that any driver finds is magnified – which means that tyre strategy becomes all the more important.

“That strategy also influences qualifying, with about 18-20 laps expected for the soft tyres in race conditions and 23-25 laps for the medium tyres.

“We can expect three stops for most of the leading runners, although some may try two depending on which compound they favour.

“Degradation is more or less where we expect it to be, given track temperatures in excess of 45 degrees centigrade.

“In terms of the speed differential between the tyres, we’re still expecting 0.6-0.8 seconds between the two compounds or maybe a bit less.

“Tyre degradation is certainly going to be an important factor in the race tomorrow, but managing the tyres correctly presents another important opportunity for this extremely talented grid of drivers to demonstrate their skills.”

The Bahrain Grand Prix on Sunday is going to be all about tyres again and Nico Rosberg carried on from where he left off following his victory in China last weekend.

The Mercedes driver set the fastest time of the day on the P Zero Yellow soft tyres during the second free practice of the day.

The day was characterised by high temperatures and sand blowing on to the track.

Paul Hembery, head of motorsport for Pirelli, said: “The sand on the track - a phenomenon that we are well aware of, following our tests in Bahrain in the past – limited the useful running in the morning, but it was a much busier session in the afternoon with all the teams running both compounds in order to make up for any lost time earlier.

“The teams will all have been looking closely at the effect of track temperature on performance, which is going to form an integral part of their strategy for qualifying and the race, as well as monitoring degradation.

“From what we can see so far the pace of both compounds is around 0.6 seconds apart and degradation is in line with expectations. But we still have a lot of data to go through tonight before we can accurately predict how long the stints are likely to be on each tyre, as this is the first time that we are here in race conditions.”

Alex Kapadia, Operations Team

By Denna Bowman

Bridgestone is continuing to develop and expand its Run Flat tyres range in its bid to guarantee customer satisfaction.

The tyres manufacturer announced its Run Flat technology “is routinely refined, revisited and tested to ensure it offers drivers a comfortable and safe ride – even when a tyre has become flat.”

The line-up, recently expanded to include the first Firestone Run Flat Tyre, Firehawk SZ90μ, has been created to enable motorists to continue driving on a flat tyre for a distance of up to 50 miles at a speed of 50 mph.

Andy Dingley, communications manager at Bridgestone, UK said: “Bridgestone is committed to providing superior products and we’ll continually progress and improve our Run Flat Technology so it is always safe, cutting-edge and economical for our customers.”

Run Flat tyres still allow motorists to return home or travel to a maintenance garage safely, even if the tyre is losing pressure.

Each tyre has a harder sidewall rubber which enables it to support the vehicle’s weight and load at zero pressure.

To combat the tyre separating from the wheel when pressure is lost, it has a specially designed bead. This bead is filled with a unique rubber that acts as a filler to help control heat build-up created during run flat driving.

Current third generation Bridgestone Run Flat Tyres have been tested and reviewed by industry professionals who have agreed the tyres have excellent absorption over bumps which is useful for ensuring a more comfortable ride when travelling off road or on UK roads in disrepair.

Motoring journalists have praised the low noise of these tyres and their reduction in fuel consumption as users don’t have to carry a spare.

Reviews specifically noted that differences between a conventional tyre and Run Flat Tyres are undetectable – a tribute to Bridgestone’s commitment to high comfort and quality standards for their Run Flat Tyres.

By Denna Bowman

Goodyear tyres highlighted its 2011 success and outlined its ’strategy roadmap’ for the future at the annual shareholder meeting today.

Richard J. Kramer, the US tyres manufacturers chairman and chief executive, revealed he was pleased with the company’s 2011 performance which set records in several areas.

Its achievements included:

• Record sales of $22.8 billion, up 21 percent from 2010

• Record segment operating income, up almost 50 percent from 2010 and 10 percent higher than the company’s previous high

• Record sales in all four business units and significant earnings improvement in the North America and Europe, Middle East & Africa businesses

• Improved price/mix and branded share gains in targeted market segments

Kramer said: “What is most gratifying is that our record results across all global businesses were achieved in the midst of continued economic uncertainty around the world through successful execution of our strategy.

“Our Strategy Roadmap is the foundation for decisions on every aspect of the business, from marketing and product development to investment and team building.”

Within that framework, the company has three key strategies, which Kramer said are essential to its future. They are:

• Returning North American Tire to sustained profitability

• Winning in China,

• Continuing its traditional success in Europe, Middle East & Africa and Latin America.

Kramer said the path to delivering on these key strategies is formed by five key areas of execution, or as he calls them, the key “how to’s.”

“Our performance in these five areas served as the catalyst for our record results and continues to be our playbook going forward,” he continued.

The are:

• Market-back innovation excellence

• Targeting profitable market segments

• Operational excellence

• Enabling investments

• Top talents and teams.

“As we execute in these five areas, we are confident that we will create a stronger company, both competitively and financially in both the near term and over the long term,” Kramer said.