During a four-day test at the Andalusian circuit, from Tuesday to Friday (7-10 February) each car will have 25 sets of Pirelli’s new soft, medium and hard compounds available, along with the wet tyres if needed. Teams are allowed a maximum of 100 sets of tyres per car each year for testing purposes, and they are permitted to choose the compounds they would like to test within their allowance. None of the teams have nominated the supersoft compound for Jerez: the only compound to remain unchanged from 2011.

Experimental compounds for the 2012 tyres were tried out during some of the free practice sessions last year, as well as at the young driver test following the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. However, the regular drivers now have the opportunity to test the new compounds together with the new profiles for the tyres, which this year are much ‘squarer’ in order to provide a greater contact patch and deliver a longer period of peak performance, while maintaining an overall lifespan in the region of 100 kilometres.

The tyres have been designed to provide more grip at the rear of the car, following the latest changes in the aerodynamic regulations that ban blown exhausts for 2012.

Once more the teams will start from scratch, as all the compounds apart from the supersoft are new, with more visible colour markings. In the unlikely event that it rains in the south of Spain next week, the drivers will also get to try out the new Cinturato rubber: the designation for the intermediate and full wet tyres – which echo the name of Pirelli’s first Formula One tyres from the 1950s.

With the 2012 cars in different phases of development, and some new drivers as well, the emphasis in Jerez will not be on peak performance but instead on understanding the characteristics of the new tyres and matching them to the cars.

The 4.43-kilometre Jerez circuit has hosted both the Spanish and European Grands Prix previously, and it is a popular venue for Formula One testing due to its technical configuration and year-round warm weather. It was one of the venues that Pirelli used for testing in 2010, when the company was building up to its return to Formula One.

The track contains quite a wide variety of corners, ranging from slow curves to some medium to fast bends. The layout puts particular emphasis on rear tyres, which have to work hard to supply the best traction throughout an ample range of speeds. While Jerez does not result in especially high top speeds, every aspect of a car’s performance is comprehensively tested.

Pirelli’s Motorsport Director Paul Hembery said: “After a successful first season in 2011, we are determined to help provide an even better spectacle this year, which is why the entire tyre range has been renewed. At this early point, the emphasis for the teams is expected to be on learning the new tyres and it will be interesting to see which approach they take to that process. Last year, it didn’t take the teams long at all to understand the characteristics of our tyres, and while we are sure that this will be the case again, there will be less of an element of surprise this year, as to some extent the teams know what to expect from our products. This rapid pace of development and reaction is what makes Formula One our ultimate research tool, enhancing Pirelli’s status as the world leader in the Ultra High Performance sector.”

While the teams are testing the 2012 Formula One compounds for the first time, the brand new P Zero Silver road car tyre will also be launched in Jerez: the first of a series of specialised tyres from Pirelli that use Formula One technology. The P Zero Silver road tyre – the same name that is given to the hardest compound in the Formula One range – is designed to combine performance with durability, created for motorists who enjoy sporty driving and cover more than 20,000 kilometres a year.

As well as a name, the P Zero Silver shares Pirelli’s sporting DNA with the Formula One tyres, making use of the same sophisticated design technology that has gone into the tyres that will take to the track in Jerez.

For further information please contact:
Alexandra Schieren +33 607 03 69 03 alexandra.schieren@pirelli.com

Anthony Peacock +44 7765 896 930 anthony@mediatica.co.uk

***

Francescopaolo Tarallo +39 334 684 4307 francescopaolo.tarallo@pirelli.com
(Head of Motorsport and Product Communications)

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More angular profiles and softer compounds to compensate for the new aerodynamic set-ups of the cars

Alongside the p zero slick compounds, on the wet weather tyres the cinturato name returns, with which pirelli made its formula one debut in 1951

The colours on the tyre sidewalls have been modified to make the different compounds more visible

Tyre performance, temperature and pressure data is available for teams, engineers, and pirelli’s researchers to see in real time – thanks to the very first formula one tyre virtual database,
designed by the italian firm

Abu Dhabi, 25 January 2012. Pirelli gets the 2012 Formula One season underway, its second as sole supplier, by presenting the new range of tyres for the 63rd FIA World Championship at the Yas Marina circuit in Abu Dhabi. The key characteristics of the new tyres – developed by Pirelli together with the teams in response to the latest aerodynamic regulations regarding blown exhausts – are: squarer profiles, increased grip, and softer, more competitive compounds with consistent degradation.

The objective for the 2012 tyres is to ensure entertaining races that remain unpredictable all the way up to the chequered flag, with two to three pit stops per race and a strong emphasis on team strategies. The coloured markings on the sidewalls now change to become bigger and more easily recognisable, while the Cinturato name that has become emblematic in Formula One history returns: the tyre with which Pirelli raced and won in the 1950s. From 2012, Cinturato will denote the full wet and intermediate tyres.

Pirelli’s Racing Tyre System also returns, with some new functionality. This is a platform created by Pirelli’s engineers in order to record the behaviour and performance of each tyre: information that is shared with the teams and Formula One Management (FOM).

The presentation took place today at an international press conference hosted by Marco Tronchetti Provera, the President and CEO of Pirelli, Motorsport Director Paul Hembery, and Research and Development Director Maurizio Boiocchi.

Marco Tronchetti Provera said: “After the positive experience of last year, the teams asked us to continue providing tyres with the characteristics that contributed to spectacular races in 2011. And this is what we have done, optimising the compounds and profiles in order to guarantee even better and more stable performance, combined with the deliberate degradation that characterised the P Zero range from 2011. We’re expecting unpredictable races, with a wide range of strategies and a number of pit stops: all factors that both competitors and spectators greatly enjoyed last year. The development work on the new compounds took place throughout the 2011 season, thanks to the impressive learning curve and reaction times from our engineers, who are ready to continue those evolutions during the season ahead.”

New for 2012: more competitive compounds and ‘squarer’ tyres

Just as was the case last year, Pirelli will supply the teams with four slick tyre compounds – supersoft, soft, medium and hard – along with two types of wet weather tyre as prescribed by the FIA rules (see separate article). All the P Zero slick tyres will feature a brand new profile compared to 2011 and three of them (the soft, medium and hard) will also have new compounds. The new compounds are softer, with increased grip, better performance, a longer performance peak, but an unaltered overall lifespan. Of the wet weather tyres, only the full wet – the Cinturato Blue – has changed, while the intermediate tyre, the Cinturato Green, is unaltered (see separate article).

Also unchanged from last year are some fundamental characteristics that all six Pirelli tyres have in common: safety, reliability, structural integrity, driving precision, and fast yet distinctly different degradation curves among the assorted compounds. Pirelli’s research and development methodology is the same as well. The design and testing of the 2012 tyres has benefitted from an on-going dialogue with teams and drivers, who contributed to the development of the new P Zero and Cinturato tyres over the last season. The results of on-track tests have been integrated with the data from simulation, which is able to recreate and predict tyre behaviour and performance in all the circuit and weather conditions of the 20 tracks that make up the Formula One calendar.

The evolution of the Pirelli tyres for 2012 has also taken into account the regulation changes introduced by the FIA regarding blown exhausts. This new measure, which should result in a reduction of aerodynamic downforce acting on each tyre, requires a wider and more even contact patch. This objective has been met by having a less rounded shoulder on each tyre and using softer compounds, which produce better grip and more extreme performance. The performance gap has changed as well between the different compounds, which all now perform better. During the 2011 season, there was a difference of between 1.2 and 1.8 seconds per lap among the different compounds. This year, the objective is to reduce that to less than a second: between six and eight tenths.

The compounds for the new season synthesise and build on the evolutions already carried out by Pirelli’s engineers on the 2011 tyres. These have been formulated by Pirelli’s Research and Development division in Milan, using the information obtained when experimental tyres were tested during free practice at grands prix in Sepang, Montreal, Silverstone, Nurburgring, Abu Dhabi and Interlagos last year, as well as the young driver test at Abu Dhabi in November. These tests used a total of 6,000 tyres, which covered around 11,000 kilometres. On top of that, Pirelli carried out five private tests in Istanbul, Barcelona (twice), Jerez and Monza, driving for 9,000 kilometres.

Pirelli’s new Formula One tyres will make their debut at Jerez on 7 February, at the first official test of the 2012 season.

Racing Tyre System: Pirelli creates a passport for each tyre.

In order to develop the 2012 tyres, Pirelli’s engineers relied heavily on the Racing Tyre System (RTS): a computer-based platform able to gather and process the performance data of every tyre during tests and races. The Racing Tyre System, developed by Pirelli’s Information Technology department, allows users to monitor the performance, wear and behaviour of the tyres throughout every phase of their use. On top of that, the RTS tracks the life of each tyre from construction to circuit, updating, in real-time, its use, performance and wear rate. After each tyre has been made in the Izmit factory – where all of Pirelli’s competition tyres are produced – the RTS registers the construction data of each tyre as a type of individual passport. The information on each tyre is built up as it arrives at a circuit and gets fitted onto a car. From that point on, the tyre’s temperature, pressure and wear rate are all registered and made immediately available to Pirelli’s engineers on the track, using special tablet computers, as well as to Pirelli’s research division in Milan and to all the teams. This constitutes a virtual database that is continually updated, forming the starting point for analysis of each car’s performance and future development of the tyres (see separate article).

The Cinturato returns: a world champion in the 1950s

The 2012 season marks the return of the Cinturato name to the pinnacle of world motorsport: a brand that is not only linked to Formula One but also to the entire industrial history of tyre manufacture. The Cinturato made its debut in 1951 on Juan Manuel Fangio’s Alfa 159, taking him to championship victory, and was often seen on the podium along with another Pirelli tyre: the Stella Bianca, which was fitted to the Maserati and the Ferrari 375. The Cinturato competed in Formula One right up to the mid 1950s, after which it became a road car tyre for the most sporting and technically advanced cars of the day.

The Cinturato tyre really made its name as a benchmark in the automotive industry throughout the 1960s, when it was at the forefront of mass motoring.The innovative technology, developed for the Cinturato in the 1950s, took its name from the radial belt (or ‘cintura’, in Italian) that went all the way around the tyre carcass, initially made out of textile fibre and later out of metal. This innovation paved the way for wider tyres that were able to cope with the higher cornering speeds reached by cars from the 1960s onwards. Today, as well as denoting Pirelli’s wet weather Formula One tyres, the Cinturato identifies one of the most successful products in the global tyre industry: the Cinturato P7, which perfectly illustrates Pirelli’s brand values of performance, safety, durability and energy-saving.

Pirelli’s Formula One team

Pirelli will supply a total of 45,000 tyres for the entirety of the 2012 Formula One World Championship. The tyres for the top level of world motorsport will be produced at Pirelli’s dedicated competition facility within the factory at Izmit, Turkey, which is one of the most advanced of its kind in the world. Pirelli’s engineers have put in place state-of-the-art machinery and innovative technologies to make tyres that are perfectly suited to the demands of grand prix racing (see separate article).

At races and during official tests, the Pirelli F1 team numbers 50 specialists, from engineers to technicians. Each Formula One team relies on one dedicated Pirelli engineer, as well as on the entire squad of technicians and fitters.

Pirelli’s F1 team is made up of people who come from all four corners of the globe, but is based in Milan: Pirelli’s Research and Development headquarters. This department has always been at the heart of the Pirelli Group’s cutting-edge technology and employs 1,000 researchers, located in five centres around the world. Motorsport has consistently been Pirelli’s most important research laboratory, from which the Group has developed some of the industry-defining innovations in the tyre sector.

The tyre supply agreement to Formula One marks the pinnacle of Pirelli’s presence throughout the world of motorsport, in which the Italian firm has been involved since 1907 when it won the Peking-Paris road race. Pirelli is also the exclusive supplier to some of the world’s most important motorsport championships, both on two and four wheels – such as the GP2 and GP3 Series and the World Superbike Championship. On top of this, the Italian firm supplies more than 70 national and international race and rally series, having been the exclusive tyre provider to the World Rally Championship from 2008-2010.

Formula One and sustainability

Following on from the Pirelli Premium strategy, dedicated to the design of products and solutions that combine the highest standards of performance and safety with respect for the environment, the Formula One tyre supply agreement is also inspired by criteria of environmental sustainability. In common with all of Pirelli’s other motorsport tyres, heavily aromatic oils have been eliminated from the P Zero production process. The industrial processes used in Izmit are based on energy and water efficiency and the reduction of harmful emissions like carbon dioxide. Special attention is given to the re-use of production remnants and used tyres. The waste handling protocol includes the recycling of used Formula One tyres for either the generation of new primary material or energy production.

The total output of the tyres made throughout the 2011 season – 28,600 for races and 6,00 for tests – were all recycled.

Pirelli’s attention to sustainability is also shown by its recent confirmation in the Dow Jones Sustainability STOXX and Dow Jones Sustainability World Indices, where the Group has been the leading company in the ‘Autoparts and Tires’ sector for six consecutive years.

Pirelli in the Middle East

Pirelli is among the market leaders in the Middle East, an area that has witnessed a consistent increase in the Ultra High Performance sector over the last few years, where Pirelli leads the way. Pirelli’s local headquarters is in Dubai, importing tyres from Europe from the most prestigious range in the line-up: the P Zero family. These have been developed for the most powerful sports cars currently on sale, such as Ferrari, Lamborghini, Porsche, Aston Martin and Bentley. Pirelli also has a strong presence in the local market for bus and truck tyres, which are made at Pirelli’s facility in Alexandria, Egypt. The industrial and logistical hub, located at Izmit in Turkey, produces tyres for both cars and commercial vehicles and is also fundamental in servicing Middle Eastern markets.

For further information please contact:

Francescopaolo Tarallo +39 334 684 4307 francescopaolo.tarallo@pirelli.com

Alexandra Schieren +33 607 03 69 03 alexandra.schieren@pirelli.com

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Without safety interventions, the World Health Organization estimates 2 million deaths on the road in 2020.  Economic impact of road accidents in some countries between 1% and 3% of GDP. Awareness of the quality and maintenance of tyres is essential for prevention.

To improve the safety of its products, for the benefit of people and the environment, each year Pirelli invests 7% of revenues from the Premium segment in R&D, one of the highest levels in the tyre sector

Pirelli’s plan for the containment of environmental impact entails a commitment to reduce  CO2 specific emissions by 15% and water specific withdrawal by over 50% by 2015

Marco Tronchetti Provera:  the technologies needed to be “sustainable”, a particular patrimony of European industry, represent a competitive advantage and an opportunity to spread a new model for growth

Jeremy Rifkin: the “prosumer”, the producer-consumer, is the new protagonist of “distributed capitalism”

Ethical Corporation Study: for almost 90% of interviewees, attention to consumer safety is an essential element of social responsibility and an area of opportunity and innovation

During its “Sustainability Day”, Pirelli today signed a voluntary agreement with the Ministry for the Environment and Land and SeaProtection to reduce the climate impact deriving from the activities relative to the production and use of its tyres. The agreement was signed by Minister Corrado Clini and Pirelli Chairman  Marco Tronchetti Provera during the “Driving Sustainability: a safe road to the future” international conference. The agreement underscores the commitment of the company which through its own technology develops production systems and products which guarantee the reduction of environmental impact, quality and consumer safety. All elements which allow Pirelli to constantly increase its efficiency, also with significant economic benefits, and avail of an additional competitive lever on international markets, above all in those where these features are called for by law and appreciated by the consumer.

“To speak of sustainability today, said Pirelli’s Chairman, “means first of all to speak of technologies which permit the constant improvement of our quality of life. The “old” Europe cannot compete with emerging countries from the point of view of production costs and internal demand, but something which can ensure our future, without doubt, is being more advanced in our search for sustainable models of industrial growth. In this sense, Italy and Europe have developed points of excellence which they export to the rest of the world”.

The conference addressed the theme of sustainabilityunderstood not as a cost but as an indispensable condition for a company’s future, which thanks to avantgarde technologies is able to develop more sustainable and efficient models of growth.

The debate also encompassed the theme of the consumer’s role within an economic system which in recent decades has seen profound changes in the models of development and market dynamics.

For the economist Jeremy Rifkin, the “prosumer”, the new producer-consumer, is the figure who will become ever more prevalent thanks to “distributed” capitalism, a complex figure who incarnates different and apparently conflicting interests with which companies must more frequently engage. Reconciling these interests will be a stimulus for companies to identify new models of more sustainable growth.

For Pirelli, growth also means responsibility towards the consumer, both through the protection of the environment and the development of ever safer products. Safety was, in fact, one of the conference’s central themes, with contributions from senior institutional, association, academic and corporate officials. As well as Marco Tronchetti Provera and Minister Corrado Clini, the participants included Antonio Tajani, vice president of the European Commission, responsible for Industry and Entrepreneurship, Peter Bakker, president of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), Nikhil Chandavarkar, Chief of Communication and Outreach, Division of Sustainable Development, United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Carlo Fidanza, member of the Transport and Tourism Committee of the European Parliament, Francesco Gori, COO of Pirelli, Toby Webb, founder and president of the Ethical Corporation and Jeremy Rifkin, president of the Foundation on Economic Trends. The debate was moderated by Oscar Giannino.

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The renewal is the execution of commitments made by Pirelli & C. in 2010 with banks financing Pirelli RE (today Prelios Spa) for the purpose of obtaining the necessary authorizations on the part of the same to launch the operation of separation of Pirelli RE from the Pirelli Group, as stated with a press release of May 4^th, 2010 and included in documents made available to the public on the occasion of an extraordinary shareholders’ meeting on July 15^th, 2010.

The operation was unanimously approved by the Board of Directors, following the favourable opinion, also unanimous, of the Committee for Operations with Related Parties composed entirely by independent members. The financing is to be qualified as an operation with a related party (because of the existing relationship between Pirelli and Prelios through Camfin which, in accordance with Consob’s Regulation no. 17221 on March 12^th, 2010, exercised a “notable influence” on Prelios and the “major relevance”, in that it exceeded the threshold identified in article 4, paragraph 1, letter a) of the cited Consob Regulation.

The conditions and terms of the financing are reported in the informational documents regarding the operation which, in accordance with article 5 of the cited Regulation, will be available to the public at the company’s headquarters and Borsa Italiana SpA, as well as being published at the company’s website www.pirelli.com, on 30 December 2011.

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The operation is covered by agreements relative to the relationship between Pirelli and Camfin as shareholders of Pirelli & C. Ambiente SpA and Pirelli & C. Eco Technology SpA, which expire in June 2012, and include the Camfin Group’s right to sell (and the correlated obligation on the part of Pirelli to acquire) the two shareholdings in the event that one of the two parties decides not to proceed with the industrial collaboration.

The total outlay for the acquisition of the two shareholdings was approximately 7 million euros. In execution of the agreements, the valuation of the two participations took place – with the assistance of primary merchant banks – on the basis of the 2012-2014 Industrial Plans approved by the participants.

The operation is qualified as an operation with related parties (as a consequence of the existing relationship between Pirelli and Camfin which, in accordance with Consob’s regulation no.17221 of 12 March 2010, exercises a “notable influence” on the former) and of “minor relevance” in that it does not exceed the threshold identified in article 4, paragraph 1, letter a) of the cited regulation. At the same time, the Committee for Operations with Related Parties (which it should be noted is entirely composed of independent members and not connected in relation to the two operations) had already expressed a favourable opinion regarding the interests of the Company in the disposal of the two shareholdings, as well as regarding the convenience and substantial correctness of the relative conditions, as called for in the cited regulation.

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The meeting will be called upon to decide on the nomination and compensation for the common representative of the possessors of savings shares for the 3-year period 2012/2014, as well as regarding the constitution of a fund for the expenses necessary for the safeguarding of the common interests of savings shareholders and the relative reporting, as called for by the prevailing norms.

The report of the common representative of the holders of savings shares, on all the points of the order of the day, will be available to the public at the company’s headquarters and at Borsa Italiana SpA, as well as being published online at www.pirelli.com.

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Pirelli wishes to thank Mr. Cucchiani for his valuable contribution to the company. He had been a member of the Board since July of 2007.

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The 39th issue of ‘The Cal™’ is the work of Mario Sorrenti, the first Italian photographer in the history of a calendar that has become a cult. Neapolitan by birth and New Yorker by adoption, Sorrenti chose the island of Corsica and its rugged landscape to create his ‘swoon’: ecstasy captured by images.

“The intense relationship between a photographer and his Muse is the very essence of the creation of a strong aesthetic dialogue which leads to the sublimation of natural beauty. In making “The Cal™”, I approached the subjects of my pictures by building a straightforward, intimate and real relationship which made it possible for me to instill the images with purity. In “swoon”, I put the bodies in direct contact with Nature, which harbors them as if they were its extension, in a set of images where rocks, land, tree trunks, sky and sea are all turned into a backdrop for the bodies”, says Mario Sorrenti, an artist whose fame was built on his extraordinary skill with nudes.

The 25 pictures of the 2012 “Calendario Pirelli” eighteen black and white and seven colour – are presented in a refined, canvas-lined portfolio, a format that has never been used before.

The 2012 Calendar features 12 protagonists, nine models and three actresses. The models include the Brazilian Isabeli Fontana (2003 Cal by Bruce Weber, 2005 by Patrick Demarchelier, 2009 by Peter Beard and 2011 by Karl Lagerfeld), the Russian Natasha Poly (2011 Pirelli Cal by Karl Lagerfeld), the Dutch Saskia de Brauw and Lara Stone (2009 Cal by Peter Beard and 2011 by Karl Lagerfeld), the Americans Joan Small and Guinevere Van Seenus (2006 Cal by Mert and Marcus), the Polish Malgosia (2009 Cal by Peter Beard), the Lithuanian Edita Vilkeviciute, the British Kate Moss (1994 Calby Herb Ritts and 2006 by Mert and Marcus). The actresses are the Ukrainian Milla Jovovich (1998 Cal by Bruce Weber), the Italian Margareth Madè and the Japanese Rinko Kikuchi.

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