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By 
Saturday, March 23, 2013
Lets cast our minds back to the start
of the 2012 season and the comments from the teams and drivers
regarding the Pirelli tyres. Lets say they were critical at best but
by mid season the teams got on top of their issues with them and
adapted, resulting in less pit stops and inevitably less moaning.
Pirelli's remit from the FIA is simple,
create tyres that challenge the teams, thus creating more pit stops,
varying strategies, more overtaking and in turn more for the viewer
to absorb. The teams lobby on one hand for a better 'show' (for their fans) but in
reality would love a more controlled tyre as it lessens the challenge
the team faces.
For 2013 Pirelli took on board some of the criticism
the teams leveled at them in regard to the way the front tyres wore
in 2012 and redesigned the construction of the 2013 tyre. The tyre is now
more forgiving in the sidewalls whilst the central platform of the
tyre has been made more rigid. The net result is a slight increase
in the weight of each tyre (Increase in the minimum car weight within
the Technical Regulations to compensate) whilst affording the driver
a much larger contact patch due to the construction changes. With
the compounds all being moved down a tier and a new Super Soft
entering the fray the degradation levels have also increased.
Red Bull have voiced their displeasure
in Malaysia at the situation claiming it is unfair that the teams
with more downforce seem to be at a disadvantage, Sebastian Vettel
even went as far as to say:
"Today I think tyre wear was pretty
severe for everyone. You end up going round way under the car so it's
not a lot of fun but that's how it is, it's the same for everyone. We
need to try a couple of things to make it better; we tried today, now
obviously it's up to us to hopefully learn the right lesson and make
a step forward."
Whilst Team Principle Christian Horner had this to say:
"I think what we want to avoid is drivers cruising around under
the performance of their car, unable to follow another car closely,
otherwise it's not racing. But it's still early days so let's see a
sample of two or three races and then be able to gauge from there."
Both are making the assertion that the
team have more downforce (either than their competitors or than last
years car) and that by virtue of this tyre wear increases. I have to
say that surely this is logical anyway? A car with more downforce
asserts more force onto the tyres, heating them more rapidly and
therefore wearing them more quickly. I can see the other side of the
coin in that if you have less downforce you should slide around more
thus wearing the tyre, however with the enlarged contact patch it would
seem that you simply add more energy / heat to a larger surface area.
Without the rigid central platform on the tyre it would deform and
quite rightly a sliding car would generate excessive heat and
therefore excessive wear.
If we were to watch a lap onboard the
Lotus it's clear to see that the team have found a way in which to
assert the necessary force whilst cornering, however it would appear
they are utilising the full contact patch therefore dissipating the
heat across the whole width of the tyre. In comparison Red Bull
seemingly have a very peaky window where they are operating the
tyres, wearing this section of tyre more aggressively by virtue of
thermal degradation. They are not the only team and if you watch the onboard footage of the cars, during cornering you will see the band of rubber pushed across the tyre as it heats up and then gets spit off the side of the tyre.
The other area of note in regard to the
Pirelli's bought up this weekend is the use of the
Renault R30 as Pirelli's development mule. It's something that I
mentioned when Pirelli first announced they had acquired the chassis
from Lotus and that is that Lotus will have a certain level of data
available to them from the R30 that other teams argue is now giving
them an advantage. I can see both sides of this argument as quite
rightly Lotus do have a reference data to look at in regards to the
R30, however I'd argue that firstly the R30 wasn't the best Enstone
car and secondly they can have all the data they like from the R30
but that doesn't equate to the same tyre model as the 2013 tyres.
The E21 is clearly an evolution of the
E20 and as we all saw in 2012 Lotus were capable of great tyre
management, with a greater window for tyre performance the E21 has
simply shown more of this potential. This of course is allied to the
team using the 'Coanda' exhaust the season and achieving a downforce
gain further enhancing the platform of the car.
So, storm in a tea cup? Yes, I think
so, the teams have to adapt just as they do to any other variable
that is presented to them in F1, for arguments sake the loss of
unlimited DRS in qualifying this year.
Just like last year the tyre
debate will rumble on until around round 8 at which point the likes
of Red Bull will realise they have to give up some of the camber, low
tyre pressures and/or ride height etc that was giving them an
advantage in 2012 and found a better solution thereby allowing them
to run 1 less stop like Lotus etc are doing already. There is always more than one way to skin a cat and at the moment some teams don't like the fact others are doing it in a way they can't.
As an aside, whilst others have been
critical of Pirelli I find their approach to suit F1 as they are
helping to push the boundaries of the sport, teams and drivers. With
conversation constantly dominated in the media at the moment about
their product they are resolute in their approach as I think they
should be. Lest we forget when we had Michelin and Bridgestone
battling it out the tyres were prototypes each race, so that they
could one up each other for the most exposure.
Posts
Nice balanced write-up! Sometimes unusual in the world of F1. Its the same every year, those who 'loose out' moan for a bit but then just get on with business.
ReplyDeleteTotally agree with Brightlamshade's comments!
DeleteMatt, mate - wear ≠ degradation.
ReplyDeleteMore heat history going into the tyres means more degradation - where the rubber breaks down - so it "degrades" the tyres - and wear is using up material, like an eraser.
More downforce inevitably means less slip angle and less slip ratios, meaning less WEAR. But the increased heat, the quicker cornering, the harder braking and traction inevitably means that you pump more energy into the tyre, which turns to heat. Even on the straights, there is added hysteresis because the tyre obviously "flattens" more under more load - it takes energy to do that too - and that means added DEGRADATION.
Thought I'd leave my first comment. I don't know what to say.
ReplyDeleteWicked