There are several types of tires, with varying degrees of hardness. The softer the tire, the greater the grip and speed, because softer tires become gooey when they heat up. But they also wear out more quickly, losing their grip and speed.

When it was developing new tires for Formula One in the autumn of 2010, Pirelli asked the teams what style of races they wanted.

“We were told: ‘Canada, 2010,”’ said Paul Hembery, director of the Pirelli racing program.

The 2010 Canadian Grand Prix had been a free-for-all, run in heavy rain that made for low grip, which meant a high number of overtaking moves, several pit stops for tire changes, and therefore unpredictable, exciting racing. So Pirelli made tires that wore out more quickly and required drivers to stop to change them two to three times per race.

Pirelli was then criticized for making the race results too unpredictable, so the company tweaked the rubber compound and was then blamed for being too conservative with the tires. So it devised a new compound this year and the result has been what many consider one of the greatest recent racing seasons.

But it still has its critics.

In the days when Bridgestone and Michelin were each supplying different teams with tires, they were motivated only by trying to come up with the fastest tire to beat tire-manufacturer rivals. Today, Pirelli has the luxury of creating tires with no competition, but it has the new problem of trying to please the teams, drivers and spectators.