FORUMula1.com

[Frosty]

All the teams have agreed to design their cars to similar specification in terms of weight distribution and geometry so that all teams will be similarly affected by whatever tyres the new manufacturer produces. Though obviously a team that builds in the biggest adjustability into their car might be at an advantage.

[vaptin]

never trust Italians.

Never trust anyone.

[What's Burning?]

never trust Italians.

Never trust anyone.

Were you raised by wolves?

[What's Burning?]

Pirelli remains undecided over Option tyre markings
20 January 2011


New Formula 1 tyre supplier Pirelli has yet to decide how it will differentiate its softer, Option compounds from the harder Primes over the course of race weekends throughout the 2011 season, with teams now set to use the latest version of the brand-new products in less than two weeks’ time.


Prior to the Italian company’s return to the sport this year, Bridgestone used a green-painted sidewall to distinguish the Option compounds, with both types of Slick tyres needing to be used by all drivers over the course of a full race distance.

However, Pirelli is undecided at present. “There's definitely going to be some way of marking out the tyres, but the exact way of distinguishing them has yet to be decided,” a company spokesperson explained to GPUpdate.net on Thursday morning.

DAYGLO ORANGE I SAY!

[darwin dali]

Pirelli remains undecided over Option tyre markings
20 January 2011


New Formula 1 tyre supplier Pirelli has yet to decide how it will differentiate its softer, Option compounds from the harder Primes over the course of race weekends throughout the 2011 season, with teams now set to use the latest version of the brand-new products in less than two weeks’ time.


Prior to the Italian company’s return to the sport this year, Bridgestone used a green-painted sidewall to distinguish the Option compounds, with both types of Slick tyres needing to be used by all drivers over the course of a full race distance.

However, Pirelli is undecided at present. “There's definitely going to be some way of marking out the tyres, but the exact way of distinguishing them has yet to be decided,” a company spokesperson explained to GPUpdate.net on Thursday morning.

DAYGLO ORANGE I SAY!

Here ya go:

ESPNF1:
Pirelli is planning to colour code its various tyre compounds this season to help spectators understand the teams' strategy.

In 2007 the FIA ordered Bridgestone to differentiate between its 'hard' and 'soft' options at races and the Japanese manufacturer obliged by painting a white stripe in one of the grooves. When slicks returned in 2009 the soft Bridgestones featured a green circle on the sidewall, but it was not always obvious on TV pictures.

Stories from Italy suggest that Pirelli will go one step further and change the colour of the writing on the tyre wall for each compound. The super-soft will reportedly be red, the soft will be white, the medium blue and the hard yellow. Sidewall lettering on the full wet tyre will be yellow and on the intermediates red.

It has is also emerged that - so no drivers or teams are favoured - the FIA will distribute Pirelli's tyres to the teams after randomly shuffling the code numbers at grands prix.



Ah!

I hang around [like a couch potato].
Everybody is pissed off at me.
I am sitting at home!
Don't feel like doing anything.
I feel old.
I'm the same as my granny!

I turn on the [TV] tube.
The Daltons, Waltons, everybody.
I gawk from East to West [channels] 2, 5, 4.
I can't make up my mind,
Everything is so beautifully colorful here!
I gawk at the TV.
I gawk at the TV, wow!

I am burnt out. Was that already my life?
My beautiful fantasy!
My [switchboard] relays are gone.

I turn on the [TV] tube.
The Binders, Winders on channel 3.
I gawk from East to West [channels] 2, 5, 4.
I can't make up my mind,
Everything is so beautifully colorful here!
I gawk at the TV.
I gawk at the TV, yeah!

I'm going nuts! Well, I won't touch another book
-- it's upsetting to my stomach! Literature? Puke, puke ...
And the doctor novels I have already read,
Finished when I was twelve!
Man, I am a literature buff!
And the refreshment wafers [poured out????],
Gag, gag, puke.
And this shitty chocolate makes me fatter,
And fatter and fatter, and ugh!

I turn on the [TV] tube.
Happiness! Splish splash! Fun, fun!
I gawk from East to West [channels] 2, 5, 4.
I can't make up my mind,
Everything is so beautifully colorful here!
I gawk at the TV! (She gawks at the TV).
I gawk at the TV! (She gawks at the TV)
I gawk at the TV, TV, TV, TV, TV, TV
I gawk at the TV (Wow, wow, wow, etc.)
TV, TV, TV, TV -- TV is a drug! -- TV, TV
TV is addictive!

[What's Burning?]

Not my lucky day... they REPEAT red, and not one orange? Come on Pirelli... I guess they know I drive on Continentals.

[What's Burning?]

So based on the fact that the tires are pretty much baked for the season and reading the various interviews or drivers and Pirelli...

It looks like the prevailing tactic for the front runners this year will be Q3 on options and start the race on them. Followed by a long middle stint on primes and then a quick dive into the pits with 8~12 or so laps left in a given circuit for another set of options.

Then we may also see the mid field teams attempt to go a long stint on primes, change to options and then hope for a quick yellow to come back in for prime. Or we could see back to back options with a long stint to finish on primes... for the more gentle tire wear drivers.

Certainly much more to think about.

[scotty]

The tyres are apparently dropping off by up to 2 seconds a lap after anything between 5 and 15 laps depending on the driver. That really does throw things wide open. Do you save the tyres and stop less but be a lot slower on track, or push them, having to pit more but risking them going off early? I really can see some 4 stoppers if things play out the way they seem to be going.

I debate whether Q3 players will actually qualify on soft tyres each time, you know. Look at Red Bull in Canada last year. I still maintain they did the best thing there, they just effed up the subsequent race strategy. This year it seems the effects we saw in that race are going to be massively amplified...

[spankyham]

The tyres are apparently dropping off by up to 2 seconds a lap after anything between 5 and 15 laps depending on the driver. That really does throw things wide open. Do you save the tyres and stop less but be a lot slower on track, or push them, having to pit more but risking them going off early? I really can see some 4 stoppers if things play out the way they seem to be going.

I debate whether Q3 players will actually qualify on soft tyres each time, you know. Look at Red Bull in Canada last year. I still maintain they did the best thing there, they just effed up the subsequent race strategy. This year it seems the effects we saw in that race are going to be massively amplified...

I'm not seeing anything like the tyre performance drop off you're describing. Just checked Seb, Nando and Jenson's last long runs over 15 laps. For all of them, if you look at lap 6 onward you've got 39 laps (collectively) there's only one lap with a 2 second loss and one lap with a 1 second loss. All the rest are in the tenths of seconds difference, most in the low end, some even improving. ALso bear in mind drivers can get slowed by traffic or will often slow right down for a lap to give themselves some clean air.

What's more, you have no idea what tyre they are using and what fuel load they are on. There's a specific target that the teams and Pirelli have agreed on being 150Klms as a baseline for a set of tyres (can't remember which compound). All the team/driver and Pirelli comments I've read are backing that up. They are expecting 2 stop strategies to be the norm.

I've said it before, unless you know what a team is specifically testing, what the fuel load is and which tyre compound they are using then the lap times mean nothing.

[What's Burning?]

The tyres are apparently dropping off by up to 2 seconds a lap after anything between 5 and 15 laps depending on the driver. That really does throw things wide open. Do you save the tyres and stop less but be a lot slower on track, or push them, having to pit more but risking them going off early? I really can see some 4 stoppers if things play out the way they seem to be going.

I debate whether Q3 players will actually qualify on soft tyres each time, you know. Look at Red Bull in Canada last year. I still maintain they did the best thing there, they just effed up the subsequent race strategy. This year it seems the effects we saw in that race are going to be massively amplified...

I'm not seeing anything like the tyre performance drop off you're describing. Just checked Seb, Nando and Jenson's last long runs over 15 laps. For all of them, if you look at lap 6 onward you've got 39 laps (collectively) there's only one lap with a 2 second loss and one lap with a 1 second loss. All the rest are in the tenths of seconds difference, most in the low end, some even improving. ALso bear in mind drivers can get slowed by traffic or will often slow right down for a lap to give themselves some clean air.

What's more, you have no idea what tyre they are using and what fuel load they are on. There's a specific target that the teams and Pirelli have agreed on being 150Klms as a baseline for a set of tyres (can't remember which compound). All the team/driver and Pirelli comments I've read are backing that up. They are expecting 2 stop strategies to be the norm.

I've said it before, unless you know what a team is specifically testing, what the fuel load is and which tyre compound they are using then the lap times mean nothing.

I agree, but it will also depend on what compounds are brought to what circuit. I do agree with Scotty though, I think we'll see some teams head to Q3 on primes here and there.

[spankyham]

From Autosport
15:33 Vettel has started his run in the 1m23s bracket and is still there seven laps later, although he's dropping off a tenth or two each time by

[What's Burning?]

Perelli's intent may simply be to cause the tire degradation to outpace the lessening fuel load. Last year it was almost a linear trade off in lap times.

[scotty]

I'm just going off times and driver/team quotes that have been posted on the autosport website (for the most part). Some drivers have stated what they've been on for certain runs and alluded to certain characteristics, etc. It is equally possible that these drivers who have been doing long consistent runs haven't been pushing the tyres at all, and so it could be argued that such times are not representative either. I do realise Jerez is somewhat hard on tyres though - but still much like quite a few tracks on the calendar! So i know what i said (well, about cars stopping 4 times) does go to extremes of what is possible, but it's nevertheless still possible (again, who predicted such wear at Canada last year!?).

Pirelli have stated this today: "To get away from that, you've got to almost force them to a point where the main choice of tyre can last around 100-110km in a race, considering that most races are between 300-320km." Their wording suggests to me that they think that this is what they expect the harder (main) tyres to last at best, so what of the soft tyres? The difference in pace between the supers and hards is around 3 seconds. Now, i know they only have a one step gap to deal with during races but that still leaves quite a pace difference, arguably enough to leave open the possibility of aggresive strateges on mainly softer compound tyres. It's possible, and this is all i'm getting at. I don't deny the possibility of that not actually proving to be the case in the end, but i maintain that it can still easily go either way from what i have seen so far.

[vlad]

You said it...
I remember Canada last year, and, yes, you are right, we might be able to see weird strategies this year.

[spankyham]

Ferrari got about 40 laps out of one set of tyres in Jerez (which is noted as a pretty harsh circuit). And the majority of pictures I saw of tyres showed the RB7 was "nicer" to it's tyres than the F150. To me, that looks more like two stop strategies being predominant for 2011.

Pirelli have said they will change the super softs and softs, but the medium and hard they will bring to Barcelona will be the same. Barcelona will tell us more of course as teams will definitely run full race simulations there.