tyres between soft, hard, medium

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nic08
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Joined: 21 Sep 2015, 11:11

tyres between soft, hard, medium

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hey guys,

I'm new in formula one and I'm thinking about tyres, can you guys explain to me the effects, pro and cons of medium, hard and soft tyres

livinglikethathuh
11
Joined: 15 May 2015, 23:44

tyres between soft, hard, medium

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Pirelli has four kinds of tires, supersoft (red), soft (yellow), medium (white) and hard (orange). Pirelli announces which two compounds they're bringing beforehand, taking into account cornering speed, track surface&temperature etc. Slower corners and cooler temperatures generally mean softer compounds, fast corners with hot tracks generally mean harder compounds, although there are exceptions. The softer of the two compounds selected is called the option tyre, the harder one is called prime. A tyre may be called option in one race and prime in the other.

Softer tyres yield more grip but they wear away faster. Harder tyres yield less grip but they will maintain it for longer. Sometimes track conditions may favor one compound over the other, for example when the track is very hot the hard compound sometimes equals the medium in grip, but it is rare.

Teams run their cars with both tyre compounds in Friday practice sessions and try to determine how many laps they can go without losing too much grip and losing time/risking going off track, then they decide what set of tyres to use in the race, and when. Teams have to use both sets of dry tyres if the race is dry throughout, and also they will have to use the particular set of tyres they used in Q2 at the start of the race.

If it rains, there is the lightly grooved intermediate (green) tyres which work best in damp conditions. If the rain is too much for inters, there is the wet (blue) tyres which have aggressive grooving to disperse water from the tyre/surface contact area. Inters and wets have a larger diameter than dry tyres to lift the car a bit and avoid water building up under the floor and reducing the tyre contact to the ground.

Have I missed anything?

EDIT: Just_a_fan pointed out the Q2 parc ferme rule, thx m8
Last edited by livinglikethathuh on 04 Oct 2015, 00:07, edited 1 time in total.

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godlameroso
309
Joined: 16 Jan 2010, 21:27
Location: Miami FL

Re: tyres between soft, hard, medium

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Next year, Pirelli will nominate a 'normal' tire and teams will be allowed to go one step harder or one step softer. So if Pirelli nominates the soft tire, teams can use medium or super-soft, and at least two compounds must be used in the race, one of them being the 'normal' compound. If they nominate the medium, they can use soft and hard, this will be interesting in races like Malaysia, Suzuka, Sao Paolo or Silverstone.

However, I believe that there isn't a single race track that has favored the current hard tire, I think it's a redundant compound, and every single race on the calendar can be done on the current super soft, soft and medium tires.
Saishū kōnā

Just_a_fan
591
Joined: 31 Jan 2010, 20:37

Re: tyres between soft, hard, medium

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livinglikethathuh wrote: they will have to use the particular set of tyres they used in Q3 at the start of the race.
Q2. It was changed in order to encourage the drivers to drive hard in Q3.
If you are more fortunate than others, build a larger table not a taller fence.

livinglikethathuh
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Joined: 15 May 2015, 23:44

Re: tyres between soft, hard, medium

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godlameroso wrote: ...
However, I believe that there isn't a single race track that has favored the current hard tire, I think it's a redundant compound, and every single race on the calendar can be done on the current super soft, soft and medium tires.
IIRC the commentators mentioned the medium tire "melting" and falling away too quickly in this year's Suzuka. Could be wrong.

By the way, the new tyre regs you mentioned is news to me, sounds great.

nic08
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Joined: 21 Sep 2015, 11:11

Re: tyres between soft, hard, medium

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let make things clean so soft tyres are for slow corners, more grip, cold temperature and fast to worn out. hard compound tyre are for fast corner, less grip, hot temperature and slow to worn out. is that right?

BanMeToo
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Joined: 27 Dec 2013, 16:26
Location: USA

Re: tyres between soft, hard, medium

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