Pirelli 2011 vs Pirelli 2012

[WilliamsF1]

Interesting interview with the good year engineer.

He mentions that senna driving with a combination of compounds.

When was the last time when teams and tyre companies allowed to do that?

[Nando]

Tire wars i think?

[myurr]

Tire wars i think?

Not during the most recent Bridgestone / Michelin tyre wars.

[myurr]

Great article about Pirelli's take on 2012. Pretty much agree with all they say:

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/99670

[elf341]

LOL

"In time the engineers will master what they are doing and, give it is a few more races, things will settle down. We had some indications in Spain that three or four teams had made some progress. We felt that was borne out with some of the results we saw."

Who is he referring to here?! Red Bull were nowhere, McLaren were nowhere, Mercedes were nowhere. Lotus have always been strong.

I'm not sure who he's speaking to when he suggests that most fans love what's going on. Obviously Ferrari fans are happy, because of Pirelli, Ferrari has been saved a very embarrassing start to the season.

[myurr]

LOL

"In time the engineers will master what they are doing and, give it is a few more races, things will settle down. We had some indications in Spain that three or four teams had made some progress. We felt that was borne out with some of the results we saw."

Who is he referring to here?! Red Bull were nowhere, McLaren were nowhere, Mercedes were nowhere. Lotus have always been strong.

I'm not sure who he's speaking to when he suggests that most fans love what's going on. Obviously Ferrari fans are happy, because of Pirelli, Ferrari has been saved a very embarrassing start to the season.

McLaren were the fastest team in Spain. I'm not a Ferrari fan at all, I'm a Hamilton fan, McLaren fan and overall fan of F1. These tyres don't particularly play to Hamilton's strengths but I've been loving the racing this year coupled to the fact that the grid is so god damned close.

So which races were poor or not interesting to watch? I guess if you follow a particular driver and can only be happy when they do well then you'll be hating this season, but if you enjoy F1 racing overall then so far it's been the best season in years.

[Nando]

Ferrari Williams Sauber

Sauber was stupid quick in S2, both of them.
Ferrari and Williams very very respectable in all three sectors.

Then you have the two most consistent teams, Mclaren and Lotus.

[elf341]

So which races were poor or not interesting to watch? I guess if you follow a particular driver and can only be happy when they do well then you'll be hating this season, but if you enjoy F1 racing overall then so far it's been the best season in years.

Good point. Maybe I need to change my perspective and enjoy the close racing, and hope that the lottery eventually disappeers as teams engineer around it.

As a Schumacher fan, maybe I'm just venting my frustration

[ubrben]

Interesting interview with the good year engineer.

He mentions that senna driving with a combination of compounds.

When was the last time when teams and tyre companies allowed to do that?

It's incredibly common in things like Nascar, LMP, and GT racing. I've run left:right split at Imola actually

Take a look at the track map for Lime Rock park where the ALMS heads in July. Some cars will probably run 4 different compounds on the car at the same time!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Lime_Rock_Park.svg

Ben

[Red Schneider]

Take a look at the track map for Lime Rock park where the ALMS heads in July. Some cars will probably run 4 different compounds on the car at the same time!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Lime_Rock_Park.svg

Ben

I'm guessing they'd run a harder compound on the left side, but why would they be different front to back? It looks like speed would be somewhat stable around the lap - i.e. I don't see significant traction zones or anything else that would put different demands on the rears.

Looks fun to drive. Might kill my neck though.

[Crucial_Xtreme]

McLaren were the fastest team in Spain. I'm not a Ferrari fan at all, I'm a Hamilton fan, McLaren fan and overall fan of F1. These tyres don't particularly play to Hamilton's strengths but I've been loving the racing this year coupled to the fact that the grid is so god damned close.

So which races were poor or not interesting to watch? I guess if you follow a particular driver and can only be happy when they do well then you'll be hating this season, but if you enjoy F1 racing overall then so far it's been the best season in years.

McLaren being fastest in Spain is only your opinion, not fact. I think clearly they weren't the fastest in Spain.

As for the tyres, Pirelli have replaced large chunks coming off the tyre in 2011 to thermal degradation in 2012. I know many of the teams don't like the tyres, but they sure have made for interesting races so far. I think by roughly Silverstone the teams will pretty much have them figured out and racing will proceed more normally than the first 5 have.

[raymondu999]

McLaren being fastest in Spain is only your opinion, not fact. I think clearly they weren't the fastest in Spain.

They were on pole by half a second, and Lewis was actually doing competitive laptimes despite being on a tyre conservation strategy (as opposed to a hell for leather strategy)

[Crucial_Xtreme]

McLaren being fastest in Spain is only your opinion, not fact. I think clearly they weren't the fastest in Spain.

They were on pole by half a second, and Lewis was actually doing competitive laptimes despite being on a tyre conservation strategy (as opposed to a hell for leather strategy)

Not "they" it was one car. One car who was much lighter on fuel than any other car. Beyond that others were faster in the race. I'll give you that Lewis was fastest in Quali but it wouldn't have been by a half second had he had enough fuel. But you don't get any points for P1 in Quali. Button's McLaren was horrible. He's also part of McLaren and there were many faster than him. I don't think you can say they but single out one car in particular. And I don't think fast pace in Quali and mediocre pace in the race makes a team the fastest.

[raymondu999]

Yes lighter, but not half a second lighter. He would have still been on pole, just with a smaller margin methinks. Lewis had good pace in the race too, considering his strategy meant he was churning out slower average laptimes (while saving on pitstops) and he was in traffic. I don't think Button is a good barometer - he underperformed from the car's capabilities this weekend, as is typical when he can't find a good balance (see races such as Korea 2010 or Hungary 2010)

[ubrben]

McLaren being fastest in Spain is only your opinion, not fact. I think clearly they weren't the fastest in Spain.

Does anyone have a link to the full race lap times? Would be interesting to actually plot some laps rather than shout at each other.

Ben