Scuderia Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel post race interview.
Tag: Pirelli
The tyre from a circuit point of view.
Pirelli has allocated tyre compounds for upcoming races in Montreal, Valencia and Silverstone. Every allocation in this year has brought us some interesting, unpredictable races with a wide range of race strategy.
In Montreal, P Zero Yellow soft and P Zero Red Super-soft tyres are being allocated as the nature of the circuit is tight and twisty and requires maximum grip from the tyres. The tyre compounds are the same compounds allocated for Monaco this weekend.
In Valencia, P Zero White medium and P Zero Yellow soft tyres will be used. Valencia is a street circuit like Montreal, Monaco and Singapore, however given the higher temperature and speed, medium and soft tyres are most suitable.
In Silverstone, P Zero Silver hard and P Zero Yellow soft tyres are being allocated. Silverstone is one of the fastest circuit in a season. To open up more opportunities and possibilities, hard and soft tyres are the best combination.
In case of wet weather, Pirelli will be bringing its Cinturato Green intermediate and Cinturato Blue rain tyres.
Overview of the tyre allocations in 2012 :
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The main thing I feel unhappy about is everyone has to drive well below a driver’s, and in particular, the car’s limits to maintain the tyres. I just question whether the tyres should play such a big importance, or whether they should last a bit longer, and that you can drive at normal racing car speed and not cruise around like we have a safety car. I’m not happy about the situation, let’s see what happens in future. If it was a one-off car issue, you could say it’s up to us to deal with it. But basically it is everybody, with maybe one or two exceptions, and if it is 80% of the field that has this problem, then maybe the tyre supplier should think about that. – Michael Schumacher, 2012
In 2012 F1 season, Pirelli has introduced new tyres with squarer profiles, increased grip, and softer, more competitive compounds with consistent degradation. Their objective is to ensure entertaining and unpredictable races all the way down to the chequered flag, with two to three pit stops per race, a stronger emphasis on team strategies, and reduced performance gap between compounds. Tyres are now playing a more important role in F1 races than ever before.
Formula 1 teams agreed that improving strategy calls will be the key factor to make the most out of the current Pirelli tyres. Teams have to understand the nature of the degradation, wear-based or thermal-based and make their race strategies work for them. Drivers are now more important in calling for a pit stop because they are the sensors in the car and they can sense when the tyres are past their useful life. Ferrari’s head of race operations Diego Ioverno says that the biggest complication this year is trying to time the first stop of the race because of the dangers of getting trapped behind slower traffic. Due to the reduced performance gap between compounds, the field has become more compact and it is impossible to not fall behind traffic now.
Getting the tyres into the right operating window is now more essential for success this year. Swiss commentator and former F1 driver Marc Surer said, “It’s been a question of who can make them work, and that is depending on a number of factors.” McLaren’s team principal, Martin Whitmarsh, agreed that exploiting the tyres is now more important than delivering improvements to the cars as Hamilton and Button struggled to match the pace of Red Bull and Lotus in Bahrain. Lotus trackside operations director Alan Permane says they are still trying to understand how to exploit the tyres this year and make them last for as long as possible because there are still performance differentials that do not make sense. In Bahrain, the tyres appeared to be working for them and Red Bull.
Pirelli’s motorsport director Paul Hembery says that the tyres allow the best engineers and drivers to shine and produce exciting races. “The season so far has been fantastic. We’ve had four different winners and four different championship leaders. So the competition has never been closer and part of that is down to the fact that everyone has exactly the same opportunities and challenges with the tyres.” In response to the heavy degradation issues, he said “At the end of last year we had huge criticism for conservative choices and the races were boring. Make your mind up. We are doing what is asked.”
Quotes from teams :
McLaren’s Jenson Button : “We know we were slow (in Bahrain) but we don’t understand why.”
Mercedes’ Norbert Haug : “The challenge is how to use the tyres, how to set up your car.”
Red Bull’s Christian Horner : “I think this year the tyre has dominated performance and I think it’s crucial to understand how they work.”
Lotus’ Eric Boullier : “It’s clear that the key for performance is the tyres.”
Former HRT driver Vitantonio Liuzzi : “The tyres are not blowing up, they are not blistering and it’s always a challenge for both drivers and engineers to set up the car properly and get the maximum out of them.”
So, what do you think about the new 2012 Pirelli’s tyres? Are they making races more exciting or just limiting the performance of the cars? Let us know!
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Related articles :
Tyre Trouble? by Podium Finish
Our nominations this year are designed to push the envelope of performance, as can be seen from our latest choices. Only the super-soft tyre is the same compound as last year: the other compounds are softer and therefore faster, designed to encourage closer racing as well as a wider variety of strategies.
Pirelli have announced the tyre allocation for rounds 4 to 6 of this season in Bahrain, Spain and Monaco.
In Bahrain, the condition of the track is considered to be medium grip and high temperature. So, medium and soft tyres are being allocated for the race, which is same as Australia and China this year. In Spain, hard and soft compounds will be used at the Circuit de Catalunya. In Monaco, the tight and twisty nature of the circuit requires more grip from the tyres, the soft and super-soft tyres are selected for this circuit. The super-soft tyres are being used first time in this season.
Under the new 2012 rules and regulations, all tyres allocated to a driver may now be used on the first day of practice. In this year, Pirelli has introduced softer compounds and made the teams to emphasize more on pit-stop strategy and efficiency. The tyres are also easier to differentiate than last year’s tyres.
As usual, under normal circumstances, each team will receive six sets of the harder compound, five sets of the softer compound for the weekend and four sets of the Cinturato Green intermediate tyre for damp track conditions as well as three sets of the Cinturato Blue rain tyre per driver.
2012 Tyre Allocation For Previous Race :
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It was March 1 but it could have been April 1, a date known as “April Fool’s Day” in some parts of the world, a silly spot on the calendar when pranks and hoaxes and merry japery are to be expected.
Bernie Ecclestone, the chief executive of Formula One, was quoted on the organisation’s website as suggesting F1 could boost excitement at its races by “making rain”.
Go on, Bernie. You love to wind us up!
No, really. F1’s 80-year-old boss apparently believes that into every race a little rain must fall.
Formula One is on a go-slow, according to Lewis Hamilton, one of five world champions on the grid when the new season gets under way in Melbourne three weeks time.
The new season will herald a number of technical changes, including the introduction of an adjustable rear wing and the return of the kinetic energy recovery system (KERS), which will make life busier than ever for the drivers.
But it is another change, the arrival of Pirelli as the sole tyre provider, which has made the biggest difference. According to Hamilton it has made the cars slower. As McLaren prepare for their final testing session in Barcelona, Hamilton said: “There is more to think about in the car. But Formula One does seem to have slowed down.
Photo: Hunnylander.
Pirelli’s Motorsport Director talks about the challenge of developing a brand new range of F1 tyres and how Pirelli can add to the spectacle of Formula 1.
What is the starting point for developing a new range of tyres?
PH: There’s a logical process that you have to go through. You start off by defining the profile, which is the basic starting point, and then you work on the compounds and constructions. After extensive modelling and computer analysis, we find the best theoretical solutions and then confirm the results in practice by testing on a circuit. There are a huge number of different parameters to consider, but essentially you have to balance performance, durability and driveability in a very wide variety of conditions.
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