Pirelli

[lkjohnson1950]

The topic on almost every F1 oriented site this week seems to be the Pirelli tires, and whether they have become too much of a factor in the races. The general opinion seems to be that if the tires allowed the drivers to push hard for an entire stint, Williams and Maldonado would not have won in Spain. Personally, I doubt that, in Q3 everybody pushes as hard as they can and Maldonado was #2 when the dust settled. That shows speed, at least on this day. I also think anything that closes up the field and gives smaller teams a chance to shine is a good thing. What do you think? Is this just sour grapes from Ferrari, McLaren and R/B fans? Or do we want to go back to the tires being almost no factor in the results?

[Canada Darrell™]

In my opinion it's sour grapes. Look, all of the teams run the exact same tires. Those teams with the car setup designed to go easy on the tires do better than those teams that don't, simple as that. Or certain drivers driving styles lends itself to maximizing the lifetime of the tire, where those that are more aggressive in the corners or whatever Wear the tires up faster. But it all comes back to they all run in the exact same tires so quit yer bellyaching! :-)

Somebody with more technical knowledge of the sport than myself, and that would be pretty much all of you guys, will offer your own opinions and I'd be interested in reading them.

[John S]

I can't quite put my finger on it, but there is clearly something wrong with the tyres taking not only centre stage, but almost all of the stage in F1 at the moment. Even during the Michelin v Bridgestone war in F1 the tyres never quite became bigger than the drivers and teams.

For me something is terribly wrong when cars switching to the harder compound tyres, as Webber and others did very early in the Spanish GP, can then run faster than the cars on the compound not one but two steps softer. 

I have no problem with the principle that it's the same for everyone, however with no in season testing to speak of how are teams supposed to cope with the vageries of what the current Pirelli tyres offer in different temperatures. The tyre situation has taken on the element of a lottery in my opinion which is why we are seeing cars that are fast on one track looking pedestrian at the next.

Ironically the biggest gainer seems to be Ferrari and Alonso in a car that they even describe themselves as needing massive improvement. Now do we figure it's an Italian conspiracy, or more likely pure fluke that their chassis is middling on all the Pirelli compounds where as other top runners either have feast or famine.

Consistency has nearly always been the key to championships, but at present because of the tyres it's hard to see how consistency can be acheived with the fastest cars. Surely that can't be right. 

 

[Jericoke]

Why shouldn't the tires be the story?

Pirelli puts a lot of work into it, aren't they due some time in the limelight?

It's no different than the refueling days, debating if the cars should be filled light for more stops, or heavy for fewer stops.  That was an excellent debate that's been taken away.  I'm glad it was replaced with the hard/soft/stint length debate.  I'm glad that Pirelli was willing to create tires that weren't as 'perfect' as the Bridgestone tires.

[cosworth151]

Tire management should be part of a driver's toolbox. It's one of the things that separate the good from the great.

Tires are in the limelight because they are one of the few variables left in the sport. Most other variables, like fuel strategy and brake wear, have been removed from the sport, either by rules or technology.

[lkjohnson1950]

I don't see why a lot of people are calling it a lottery. They don't have some good tires and some bad tires, so you have to hope you get the good ones. They make the same tires for everybody. For some reason they seem to be very sensitive to track temperature. When Rosberg won, he said a 2' drop made his car go from good to great. The idea that Maldonado would not have been competitive if the tires had been better seems off to me. In Q3 he was #2, a long way back from Louis, but ahead of everyone else. I think Pirelli is doing a great job and the bigger teams will return to the topo once they figure out what the tires want.

[F1fanaticBD]

We are blaming the people who made this season one hell of a joy ride? I have never witness such a season, where after 5 races, we have absolutely no clue about who is the fastest in the race track, instead of having two or possibly three teams taking away the fight rest of the field, we are having a blast of unpredictable races and above all a chance of making the playing field almost equal to everybody, and we blaming them?

I was irritated with Vettel's all-sweeping championship winning season, as I hated when MS dominated for almost 4 years. I am a racing fan, who likes to see races, and possibly with as many varieties of constructor as possible, and for making that possible this season, THANK YOU PIRELLI PEOPLE...

[Scott]

I was irritated with Vettel's all-sweeping championship winning season, as I hated when MS dominated for almost 4 years. I am a racing fan, who likes to see races, and possibly with as many varieties of constructor as possible, and for making that possible this season, THANK YOU PIRELLI PEOPLE...

Me too.  I complained early on about Pirelli, but if they are responsible for giving us the races we've had this year and some of last, all the power to them.  I LOVE the fact that a car can lose 2sec/lap just because they mis-timed their tire change stop. 

[Jericoke]

I was irritated with Vettel's all-sweeping championship winning season, as I hated when MS dominated for almost 4 years. I am a racing fan, who likes to see races, and possibly with as many varieties of constructor as possible, and for making that possible this season, THANK YOU PIRELLI PEOPLE...

We've been spoiled lately.

I rather enjoyed the Vettel domination of 2011.  It had that feeling of history unfolding.  It helped that there was genuinue close racing up and down the field.  

I'm glad it's not being repeated though.  We seem to be alternating run away championships with close ones.  That's certainly going to cover most fans (except Ferrari fans.  They're never happy with less than 2 championships by August   )

[Willy]

I like the fact that the tires can be a bit of a wild card during the race.
Teams can never know exactly when or where the tires will go off and it adds another dimension to race stategy.

I still maintain that refueling should be brought back. Car weight should be a factor and with fuel levels it would be.

[cosworth151]

Refueling was removed due to worries about fire. Just this season, we've had two major fires without refueling. Ironic, isn't it?

I'm with you, Willy. Bring it back.

[Scott]

Me three...

[lkjohnson1950]

Make it a gravity feed so refueling takes more time and carrying more becomes a strategy decision as well.

[F1fanaticBD]

Banning refueling forced teams to push to improve fuel efficiency, in the long run, makes the road going cars get improvement in this regard. So I am not adamant about the return of the refueling of cars, though it makes the race a lot interesting, but I guess Pirelli has spiced up enough, I am pretty happy with it...

[John S]

I don't see why a lot of people are calling it a lottery. They don't have some good tires and some bad tires, so you have to hope you get the good ones. They make the same tires for everybody. For some reason they seem to be very sensitive to track temperature. When Rosberg won, he said a 2' drop made his car go from good to great. The idea that Maldonado would not have been competitive if the tires had been better seems off to me. In Q3 he was #2, a long way back from Louis, but ahead of everyone else. I think Pirelli is doing a great job and the bigger teams will return to the topo once they figure out what the tires want.

By lottery I mean chance plays a big part in how cars will work at any given track both from the track nature and weather temperatures. As I have stated previously by their own admission Ferrari do not have the fastest car, perhaps not even the 3rd fastest car, so how does Alonso manage to get on the podium at most races?    Could be great driving, after all his teamate is nowhere, or is it that Pirelli tyres flatter mediocre cars?  
  
I will agree that the Williams car, especially in Maldonado's hands, has pace and perhaps could have won if the tyres were more consistent, however if the tyres were generally more consistent then I'm not convinced that Williams would have enjoyed the front row start that pretty much sealed their win.

Barcelona track was notorious for difficulty of gaining positions, in past years it was hard to overtake full stop, now with DRS you can overtake but still not really gain positions - just check the finishing order against the grid, minus the wayward ones like Michael of course.

What's going on then, if it's not the tyres cancelling the DRS factor and so having a too big influence?