Slick work
Race drivers feel the track through the tyres. The contact patches are like fingertips through which grip is gauged, the primary means by which the driver communicates with the road surface. There is another level of vital interaction when it comes to the rubber, though, and that’s between those who provide the tyres and monitor their performance, and the teams and drivers that use them. Which is why the ability to communicate well is a key skill when it comes to working as a motorsport tyre engineer.
Even [after] doing this job for many years, every weekend I learn something
That’s the view of Matteo Braga, anyway, and he should know, as he is chief tyre engineer for Pirelli’s GT operations. His job title is actually racing activities manager, and his role involves not just GT, but also any other race series the Italian tyre giant is involved in beyond its flagship single-seater championships of F1, F2 and F3. Remarkably, that amounts to close to 100 series in more than 50 countries.
Braga has been at Pirelli for nearly two decades now and, while he is still very much a tyre engineer, his role is much wider reaching these days.
‘I would say that my role,
