Pirelli 2013 F1 tyre range

[Brogan]

You can't unlearn it no, but reducing aero and getting back to mechanical grip would be simple.

Front wing - no wider than the tyres, no elements AT ALL, one plane, non-flexing, 30cm deep, no lower than 5cm.

Done!

The FIA would never write the regs in such plain English though, as they thrive on the problems and scandals caused due to loopholes and misinterpretation.

 

[no-FIAt-please]

So a stock series then?

 

[Brogan]

F1 is a stock series in all but name.
Most people just haven't realised.

When you need teams of lawyers to interpret the tech regs, there's something wrong somewhere.

 

[tooncheese]

Epic on-track battles have always been very rare, hence the Villeneuve-Arnoux is still remebered despite being only three laps. A few years ago Massa and Kubica had a similar battle at Fuji, and I can't think of many in the 80s and 90s that lasted more than a few corners. And as for the old Monza races the passes were a foregone conclusion as soon as they left parabolica, not so different to Turkey 2011.

 

[no-FIAt-please]

Brogan If that's the case then why did Red Bull 'do the double' three years on the trot while HRT were trundling around the back of the grid?

 

[Brogan]

The same thing happens in GP2, which is a spec series.

There are good teams and drivers and bad teams and drivers.

 

[no-FIAt-please]

True. But drivers and the team's trackside operations apart leaves just pure performance, something I doubt any of the greats (Fangio, Clark, Senna etc.) in history could overcome.

 

[jez101]

Brogan, I'm sure you remember, there was a lot of planning that went into the 2009 regs. They thought that would work. Watching Bahrain 2009, when front wings were pretty basic, it didn't work...

It has been said so many times that mechanical grip is the key. I don't know that it isn't, but I'm not sure it can be done. Adrian Newey has perfected the science that has moved the goalposts, perhaps irrevocably.

 

[The Artist.....]

Frank Dernie, back in 2010, suggested that the overtaking issues were not caused by aero, but instead by having semi automatic gearboxes and very strong sticky tyres!

http://www.jamesallenonf1.com/2010/03/getting-rid-of-aero-in-f1-the-counterargument/

This is demonstrated by the fact that when tyres start to fall to pieces, with less grip, then we get more overtaking; similarly, when it's wet, then there's less mechanical grip and more racing! There may well be a lot to be said about having tyres which produce very little grip.....

Certainly, it is very hard to argue that the exciting wet races is caused by large amounts of mechanical grip- quite the opposite in fact!

 

[jez101]

The Artist..... Austin last year being an example of the same in the dry. Low tyre grip, great racing

 

[no-FIAt-please]

India 2011 wasn't great though was it? That was dusty, just like Austin.

 

[The Artist.....]

no-FIAt-please - I suspect that there's no easy answer- certainly it won't be as simple as just having low grip tyres....

 

[Chad Stewarthill]

A more consistent but generally lower grip, laying down less rubber on the racing line but also producing fewer 'marbles' off it with the resulting improved ability to use more of the track, would surely be better than very high grip for two or three laps followed by sudden, catastrophically high degradation with lots of debris all over the circuit.

 

[Fenderman]

Have I missed something? Is it my imagination or has there not been a three season domination of the WDC and WCC by one driver and team ? Just because everybody else is overtaking each other like crazy, is it not the case that we have been subjected, on far to many occasions, to an intensely boring finger gesture ? I would blame Pirelli but their fingers haven't been annoying me. Can't say the same about their tyres though - driving me

 

[Blog Zbod]

The latest tyre rumour is that Hankook are soliciting the FIA to be the 2014 F1 tyre supplier.

To Dream ...the im-POS-ibul Dream ....

Yet Button, who stopped 2 laps before Vettel, set his fastest lap of the race on the last lap...

1:53.549
1:40.306
1:41.090
1:40.738
1:40.741
1:40.729
1:38.058

There are 2 ways of dealing with the soft tyres... blast them hard on the first lap, and destroy them a la Vettel, or alternatively, make them last by starting with slower laps a la Button....

1. Vettel set fast lap of the race at 1:36.808, 1.2 secs faster than Button's best.
2. Vettel's slowest lap on the softs (1:40.051) was faster than any of Button's laps on the softs, save his fastest lap alone.
3. Thanks to Button's brilliant tyre management, saving all the beans for the final lap, he narrowly missed overtaking fourth position by 22.7 seconds.
4. Due to Vettel's disastrous "tyre destroying" strategy, he missed overtaking third position by a whopping 0.203 secs.

Clearly, if Vettel had but a dollop of Button's tyre management acumen, he might one day amount to something.

EDIT:
Actually, what I should have mentioned is that the differences in Vettel's and Button's tyre strategies entirely come down to the facts that Button was saving his to defend position against challenges from Massa, who finished just five seconds back, while Vettel was sparing no cost to close the gap to Hamilton in third.

 

[teabagyokel]

Fenderman - I'm sorry, but I don't think it is fair to measure whether F1 is exciting by who wins titles. It is difficult to argue that the 2010 and 2012 title races were not exciting, and I feel it is difficult to maintain the racing in 2011 was boring too. F1 should always have a scope for someone to be victorious if they do things better than their opponents.

 

[Fenderman]

Um, so my liberal use of smileys wasn't a clue that I was being flippant and sarcastic then?

 

[rufus_mcdufus]

I suppose it's the difference between watching cars racing each other closely on-track pitting skill of driver upon driver, and cars getting to the finishing line first by whatever means possible. Obviously the second is the whole point of the sport, but the first seems to have got lost a bit along the way.

 

[teabagyokel]

Fenderman - My opinion still stands. Maybe its direction is off, though.

 

[snowy]

Um, so my liberal use of smileys wasn't a clue that I was being flippant and sarcastic then?

I think it was the finger what did it. Any indiscriminate use of the finger gives a post a positive air of authentic incredulity. :-|