You don’t want to hear that ‘tyred out’ rhetorical question again do you? You know, the one where you’re asked if you’re sick to death with talk about tyres in Formula 1?
Sympathies from all here at autoX then in case you were following the recently concluded British Grand Prix at Silverstone. Especially if you were keeping up with the reactions to the blowouts on social media.
F1 is indeed in a crisis as of now but amongst the indignation there were bits and pieces of information that allowed you to piece together the conclusions from the mayhem.
THE PROBLEM
India’s second F1 driver, Karun Chandhok was on television correspondent duty at the weekend and gave some insights regarding the problem.
The joint of the sidewall and the top section of the tyres seemed unable to withstand the forces being put on it by the high cornering speeds at the 5.901 km long circuit.
The average lap speed at Silverstone exceeds 233 kmph in qualifying. It was the first such circuit that F1 had visited this year following the early season races.
Following the first four ‘flyaway’ races the ‘circus’ touched down at the Circuit de Catalunya, which teams know like the back of their hand due to testing there.
The number of pit stops and average speed of the winner all but mirrored those in the 2011 edition of the race, which was the season when Pirelli made its debut as F1’s first ever control tyre supplier.
ADDED HEADACHE
With teams continuing to find ways to circumvent the aerodynamic restrictions placed on them since 2009, tyres were seen as an area through which the playing field could be leveled.
The addition of a ban on refueling in races from 2010 had made this all the more apparent as Bridgestone’s tyre construction was a continuation of the Japanese company’s philosophy since it started to take on Goodyear in F1 from 1997.
With so many variables already thrown up due to the differences in budgets that allowed the haves to outgun the have-nots a ‘tyre war’ was seen as the last thing a racing championship plagued by a lack of on-track overtaking needed.
At least one factor had to be the same for everyone, was the prevailing thought behind the hunt for a control tyre supplier.
HOW PIRELLI WAS CHOSEN
Thus Pirelli was targeted and the brief given to it was to produce tyres that would require drivers to “use their brains”, as Bernie Ecclestone put it earlier this year prior to the British GP.
Different compounds with varying levels of wear were introduced and with the addition of Drag Reduction System (DRS), on-track overtaking skyrocketed in 2011. However, by its own admission Pirelli were ‘conservative’ in 2011.
With a year’s worth of experience under their belt and the addition of a three-day in-season test just prior to the first European race, the Italian tyre company felt confident in pushing the envelope a bit more.
As an added bonus, the three-day test was held at the super-fast Mugello circuit in Italy where the cornering speeds and average speed over a lap mirrored that at tracks like Silverstone.
It led to races where drivers known to be kinder to their tyres, complimented by cars that suited their driving style gave Red Bull a fright.
The reigning champions’ success in 2011 had forced the International Automobile Federation (FIA) to put a ban on exhaust blown diffusers in 2012, which exposed their car’s heavy usage of its tyres.
Challenges came from Lotus, Ferrari and occasionally even Williams and Sauber as stable technical regulations further leveled the playing field.
The odd protestation came, but were silenced as the racing remained gripping and a marked improvement over the refueling era that saw positions decided in the pit lane rather than on track.
CURRENT YEAR WOES
With Pirelli feeling even more confident about its modus operandi, it decided to push even more in 2013, that too with the approval of teams happy with stealing some of the limelight from Vettel and Red Bull.
However, the seeds of both incidents that have started to dominate the headlines started to get laid by the FIA resuming their ban on in-season testing again.
Which, in turn, was exagge
rated by Pirelli’s test car being dated and not having enough data to help out beleaguered teams like Mercedes and, to a lesser extent, Red Bull Racing.
Mercedes’ desperation to turn their car into a race winner from a one lap wonder led to the decision to test with their current car and drivers at a private test in Catalunya prior to the Monaco GP.
Something that was illegal according to F1’s sporting regulations. Ferrari also tested, but used their 2011 car, so were let off the hook.
TESTING TIMES
The test was discovered following Nico Rosberg’s Monaco GP win and the resulting FIA tribunal saw both Mercedes and Pirelli given a slap on the wrist.
While the resulting action of the tribunal was debated, the bigger issue was largely overlooked. That the ban on in-season testing meant both the teams and Pirelli having to take one too many leaps of faith with their tyre compound selection.
It didn’t help that championship leaders Red Bull Racing thought the in-season test in 2012 was a waste of time for them.
With teams paradoxically worried about cutting costs but unwilling to compromise on reducing money spent on wind-tunnel testing and Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) designing, a repeat of ‘testgate’ seemed certain.
CHANGES COME TOO LATE
Signs of sense prevailing with the FIA emerged at the start of the British GP weekend with the announcement of changes to the sporting and technical regulations from 2014.
The changes included the return of in-season testing. Four European venues would host two day tests in the week following a Grand Prix weekend.
It was also announced that limits would be imposed on CFD usage and wind-tunnel testing to balance out the added cost of keeping personnel ‘in the field’.
The racing gods clearly had little sympathy for the FIA’s plans to nip F1’s teething problems with its first ever control tyre manufacturer in the bud.
F1's NIGHTMARE
The British GP could be described as nothing less than a PR nightmare for F1’s administrators even as the final laps were spiced up following Vettel’s retirement.
With Pirelli now being hauled up before the FIA on Wednesday to explain itself and offer a solution the immediate worry shifts to what could prevent similar problems at other high speed circuits.
The thought of similar incidents at a circuit like Spa-Francorchamps are too terrifying to contemplate.
Red Bull’s suggestion to revert to the 2012 tyres is ironic as those are the tyres that benefitted from the three-day in-season test at Mugello. As that was the very test that the reigning champions deemed to be of little use to anyone.
Red Bull has also started to point the finger at “short sighted” teams that refused to agree on strengthening the current generation of tyres.
In that sense at least, it is ‘comforting’ to know that F1’s participants and also its fans have not lost their ability to unanimously disagree on everything!
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