P Zero: worldwide known brand

P Zero and competitions

 

P Zero and competitions

Pirelli P Zero: at the origins of a name dedicated to racing

"The automobile is not just a hunk of steel but a living creature with a beating heart that enjoys, feels good or feels bad according to how it is treated. If you want it to respond to all your demands on the road, you must be thoroughly familiar with it and help it express its personality"
Juan Manuel Fangio
Fangio's words properly represent the spirit of intense collaboration that joined Pirelli and Maserati in competition for over 20 years: a collaboration that played an important part in creating the racing tradition of Pirelli tires.

Juan Manuel Fangio was perhaps the greatest expression of the partnership between Pirelli and Trident: the Argentine driver in his 250F won with impressive consistency on Pirellis, up to his final triumph in the 1957 World Championship, repeating the final victory in 1954.

The roots of this technological leadership developed on the racetracks, when the tires were called Pirelli Stella Bianca and in 1933 accompanied Giuseppe Campari and his Maserati 8-cylinder to victory in the French Grand Prix.

  The accord between Maserati and Pirelli lasted over 30 years, the same period in which tires were rapidly evolving toward the radial. Then came the victories of Villoresi and Farina, until Fangio's star burst on the scene in the 1953 Italian Grand Prix.

But meanwhile the technological know-how Pirelli had built up over the years with Maserati and Alfa Romeo allowed it to add another "jewel to its crown": Ferrari. Its first Grand Prix won in 1949, with Ascari in the Ferrari 125. Then a long series of 22 GPs, in those years 1952-53 when Ascari and Taruffi, in the Pirelli fitted Ferrari 500, dominated the World Championship, winning it twice.