During the 2011 pre-season testing, when drivers began complaining of the golf ball-sized marbles the disinte-Pirellis were shedding, Pirelli remarked that they were due to the inadequate development time since the FIA let them the contract. Forty races later, they still shed clag by the tonne and dramatically narrow the racing line. Anybody else see a pattern here?
Just because it's articficial why is it silly? F1 uses 2.4 litre V8 engines, these engines are not at the pinacle of drivetrain technology but no one compains about them.
Au contraire, mon frère. I have done nothing BUT complain about the V-8s. The day they were mandated is the day F1 lost all pretense of NOT being a spec racing series.
The chief reason the 2.4L V-8 has such potential is its 300cc cylinder, which is a "golden mean" displacement (for the NA engine). But we only know this to a certainty because the era when V-8s, V-10s and V-12s all competed head-to-head provided apples-to-apples thermal efficiency data to prove it empirically. Which is the only reason Ferrari would have risked the wrath even of a
dead Enzo Ferrari by sawing two cylinders off its V-12 racing motors (something they still have never done to a production automobile). Because the V-10s better thermal efficiency bested the V-12s better breathing. But developments of that sort now are a relic of the dustbin because the TR no longer permit the bold experiments that once allowed -- encouraged even -- teams to run everything from L-4s to H-16s to gas turbines (and would have allowed Wankels, but no one tried them).
There is no financial benefit from the TR imposing technical limitations. It will not reduce a team's spending by one shilling. If a team have a €100M budget for R&D, and if the TR only allow any redesign or modification to the steering wheel, they will spend the entire €100M on steering wheel R&D.
The FIA are drunk with their own success. So long as the sport's revenues continue to climb, they think everything they have done was perfect. Which reminds me of a remark made concerning President George W. Bush, who was said to have been born on third base, but thought he'd hit a triple. No reflection on President Dubya, but the FIA do seem to believe they are entirely the reason for the sport's successes.
But I digress.
These tyres are un-raceable. They were when first introduced and remain so. What we -- the fans -- were sold was that the new Pirellis would allow more aggressive driving, but for shorter stints. It was billed as
"the kind of breakthrough in terms of overtaking and on-track action that fans have been eagerly awaiting for years." But the only part of that promise that has seen fulfillment is the shorter life. And if there is an increase in tyre-inspired overtaking, it most commonly is happening when the overtaken driver has been told to "mind the tyres, do not fight for position."
As I've said before, F1 with disinte-Pirellis is like the Olympic 100M finals with all the best sprinters in the world wearing hobbles.
) the team that does the best job wins.
