Tyres - Is it really more exciting?

[SiLo]

Just finished watching the Grand Prix, and all I can say is that I think tyres may have ruined what should have been an epic four way battle at the front.

Although I suppose KERS had a hand as well, with Webber missing out on the fight, Heidfield getting up and spoiling the fight too. I was really hoping to see four great drivers, go tooth and nail at it and it to be really close, but instead it was all over the place, apart from Vettel and Button who just kept the tyres in shape and came home 1st and 2nd.

Does anyone else feel if there wasn't such a massive difference across the tyre life that we would have seen some closer action?

[ecapox]

Your disappointment is some one else's enjoyment. I loved it.

[Gerhard Berger]

In answer to your question - no. Vettel pulled a big enough gap early on when Heidfeld was holding up Hamilton.

On strategy, it seems most advantageous to pit before the guys you are racing. As soon as one of the front runners pits, the others follow.

[SiLo]

Yeah I suppose it can go both ways really, personally though I prefer it when the cars are equally matched (as in qualifying) and then have to really ring the neck of the car to beat the other guy, which to me, we hardly saw any of today. To me it was simply a tyre management race, and that's not want I want to see.

[ecapox]

It was a tire management race. A fuel management race (MAssa) as well as a good race. Id argue that there was no visible signs of "tire management". If you dont like the pit stops, stop watching now because it will probably be like this for the rest of the season.

[SiLo]

It's not the pitstops, it's just the tyres. I like to know that people finish where they do because they raced hard and got there, not because they lucked into a nice set of tyres, or someone else had a tiny bit more degredation and lost bucket loads of time.

[xxChrisxx]

Just finished watching the Grand Prix, and all I can say is that I think tyres may have ruined what should have been an epic four way battle at the front.

Total bollocks. Unless your definition of four way battle, is single file for 10 laps with the odd half chance to overtake.

That was probably the best Malaysian grand prix there has been.


Back in the day excitment didn't come from all the cars being equal. They came from totally unexpected or unlucky events. Hakkinen being half a lap ahead on the last lap and then blowing up, is by no means 'good for racing' but it certiainly was exciting.

[SiLo]

This is were preferences come into play, the race for the mid order was brilliant, especially Kobayashi and Schumacher, I loved that. It's just that we didn't see any of the top guys really racing each other, and when Alonso got onto Hamilton it was because of tyres, same for Webber on Heidfield.

[andrew]

Overtaking has become far too easy. Tyres dropping off is always going to happen but the Pirellis drop off far too much and are sadly a joke.

I know the FIA wanted tyres which suffer from a higher rate of degredation but this is far too much.

[manchild]

FIA could easily change that by altering rules and enforcing teams to start on unused hard compound. Soft tyres degradate a lot because they are used at the beginning of the race with cars filled with fuel. If they would be mounted on last tyre change, there'd be no such problems.

[Tamburello]

Let me let you in on a secret, if two cars are equally paced, you'd never have an overtake. You have to have a quick behind a slower a car, by definition, to have an overtake. This year tyre management is a major part of the equation for what makes a quick car, whereas in other years, some other parameter might have been more important that this skill in making cars quicker.

[SiLo]

So a faster driver in the same car won't overtake then? Or two equally matched drivers, both prone to making mistakes? This is what I'm getting at.

[raymondu999]

Tumbarello was just saying that a slower guy can't overtake a quicker one. By definition.

[Tamburello]

What's "a faster driver in the same car"? Is that like Alonso-Massa in Germany last year? Or Alonso-Petrov?

The holy grail of let everything else be equal so that only the quickest driver will win is unattainable IMO.

[fenix4life]

Does anyone else feel if there wasn't such a massive difference across the tyre life that we would have seen some closer action?

I would just say the opposite. The action was taking place due to the difference of tyre stragety where some had the fresher tyres on moment X but not on Y where the others had them.

If we all had rocksolid tyres there won't be huge differences during the race. It's nice to see some teams taking risks by changing tyres less