Tyres - Is it really more exciting?

[BreezyRacer]

I think I liked the tire rule back when you had to go the whole race on a single set, including qually, if I remember right. Drivers were then rewarded for tire management. They are in this system too but the marbles just get crazy bad by the end of the race. OTOH, by the end of the race it truly looks like a battle was fought out there on the track ..

[keoxiv]

I'm in two minds of it. On the one hand, strategy is back and there is no more "tram racing"...and on the other hand, sometimes wear rate is too high (just imagine Canada...) and there is a lot of rubber junk outside main trajectory...

[Tamburello]

Funny enough, i think last years bridge stones would be more fitting for 2011 regs.
The one stopper wouldn't be bad at all with some good all out racing.
The reservation we are seeing with the drivers is unprecedented.

A million and 1 pitstops isn't really strategy either. It just looks that way. In reality it's just changing tyres right before they fall off. More like a reaction than strategy.
I'm afraid only refueling can make a pit stop call have a strategic element.
It's also the only way we can have balls to the wall sprinting with no care for destroying tyres or care for running out of fuel.
It's only then will we see drivers give 100% for the whole race.

As it is, a redbull will win every race. And the others can only sit back and watch, as they cannot push hard to go 110% to even challenge the redbull.
Hamilton and Alonso look like the only 2 that can even try to do this, but they are being hampered by the stupid tyre degradation.

This is off topic, but another change that need to be made is the points. I think the winner gets too much points now and is over rewarded.
25 points works with almost equal cars, but when a car is totally dominant, the season will be over by halfway with the points hall it's bringing in.

I'm sorry but a set of Bridgestone that can last a whole race distance would make diddly squat difference in terms of finding the 'pure racing' el-dorado that some people are looking for.

Vettel would still go out to a 5 second or so lead by the first 2 laps and that would make the DRS irrelevant and he'd just drive into the distance thereafter as the people behind lose greater in tyre performance than he.

And as to this being unprecedented, the late 80's and early 90's were about nursing tyres as well, and not all out pedal to the metal driving in the races.

[strad]

I don't understand. Have we all forgotten?

When F1 was about trains we complained of zero overtaking.
Now we have some we complain it is too easy.
What is it that we want?
.....

Side by side...hammer and tongs racing...no quarter given none taken..RACING

[Florio]

The idea for making tyres perform and create a spectacle like Canada was all down to the Bulls opting for the harder tyres on the qualifying, therefore you have differing strategies from the start. If they are all soft, they are all basically on the same strategy, waiting for eachother to pit then covering it. All drivers can nurse the tyres, I think some driver's abilities to protect theirs is overrated.

[adrianjordan]

Evidence that the Pirelli tyres really do reach a point where they "fall off a cliff"...

[ringo]

I'm sorry but a set of Bridgestone that can last a whole race distance would make diddly squat difference in terms of finding the 'pure racing' el-dorado that some people are looking for.

Vettel would still go out to a 5 second or so lead by the first 2 laps and that would make the DRS irrelevant and he'd just drive into the distance thereafter as the people behind lose greater in tyre performance than he.

And as to this being unprecedented, the late 80's and early 90's were about nursing tyres as well, and not all out pedal to the metal driving in the races.

I don't care much for 90's or 80's. I'm watching now!!
I'm not the glory days type of fan. Nursing tyres is a stupid factor. It shouldn't even be a part of the sport as it has no entertainment or driver skill value.
Your tyres go as far as your setup and downforce allow.
Give me a soft tyre that can do 20 laps with a nice taper off in grip instead of a cliff edge. And a hard tyre that can do more than 3 laps ontop of the soft tyre.
It's pretty silly to have a hard tyre that only give 3 more laps or less life.

I just want to see reckless abandon racing. Burning fuel and burning tyres without a care; all in the name of going faster. F1 was once like that.

A bridgestone can last a whole race, but with DRS and KERS that wouldn't be so bad would it?
That = more competitive racing. None of this "i'm 4 seconds faster than you so i'll just overtake on the outside with no risk or skill required".
Or ," tyres 3 seconds slower, DRS on = overtake no need for late braking, good bye!".

Hopefully it rains in china and we get to good skillful racing.

[SiLo]

The marbles I think are really dangerous. They want more overtaking, but how the hell do you overtake when the only way around someone is by going out on the marbles? You're just going to go straight on and never make the pass stick.

So in essence, they tried to use tyres to get more passes, yet, after say, half distance, they won't find so many because of the tyres literally falling apart.

[xxChrisxx]

The marbles I think are really dangerous. They want more overtaking, but how the hell do you overtake when the only way around someone is by going out on the marbles? You're just going to go straight on and never make the pass stick.

That I will agree with, there has always been marbles off line beucase of the nature of the soft compounds, but not to a silly extent. It's not even marbles the Pirellis shed, it's huge great strips of rubber.

Still it's their first year for a long time, and they've delivered on their remit. A tyre that gives good grip for a short period, then falls to peices. They've just gone a tad too far with it.


It's impossible to make objective judgements on something that requires time to settle in. Nothing should be judged on the first season, and no meaningful conclusions can be drawn with such dramatic changes of multiple elements of the rules every 12 months. There needs to be some rules stability for at least a couple of seasons to see that the changes really mean.

[Tamburello]

I just want to see reckless abandon racing. Burning fuel and burning tyres without a care; all in the name of going faster. F1 was once like that.

I thought you weren't a glory days fan? So when was it that F1 was like 'that'?

A bridgestone can last a whole race, but with DRS and KERS that wouldn't be so bad would it?

DRS and KERS would make no difference in that situation. That's the whole point. Of what use are these devices when the guy is ahead of you by 5 seconds and is managing fuel to the end of the race without a care in the world?

Only rain brings the pack closer for us to see wheel to wheel action. I don't know what dreamland you've been living in, but we've seen it in reality for the past 10 years and that is why F1 has gone down the current route in trying to spice the show up a bit.

Remember also that the racing in the refueling era had ended up being little more than time trials in formation.

If you want all out speed then the formula needs to change to unban in race refueling, allow for a tyre war, unban all electronic driving aids etc...but just keep in mind that this won't guarantee you wheel to wheel action. It may actually worsen the situation of close racing.

[Fil]

They want more overtaking, but how the hell do you overtake when the only way around someone is by going out on the marbles? You're just going to go straight on and never make the pass stick.

That I will agree with, there has always been marbles off line beucase of the nature of the soft compounds, but not to a silly extent. It's not even marbles the Pirellis shed, it's huge great strips of rubber.

There were plenty of offline overtakes in Malaysia.

Of course drivers will complain about the marbles offline. If it isn't a perfect world, they will complain - it's part of their job to complain about anything that potentially impedes their pursuit of perfection.

As to the huge great strips of rubber, the reality (from the AusGP) is this..

[CyleB]

i enjoy the amount of pit stops... if one has to push very hard to catch someone running infront of them wheres the reward for the driver infront that was looking after his tyres???? nowhere...

[djos]

Not only do you have to manage your tires to make your strategy work but you have to try not to get caught behind others on different strategies and if you do, you need to overtake them to keep your strategy alive - it's brilliant!!

Frankly this sort of things makes come back drives like Webber's (10th to 4th) possible that wouldn't have been last year!

[volarchico]

I'm not a fan of the fact that they don't even have enough sets of tires to run new rubber on race day. To me that's pretty ridiculous that they're handicapped in either qualifying or on the race. Why can't they have enough tires to run new for BOTH!? They have to choose when they want to drive slow. Why should they be so handicapped?

[djos]

Agreed, more tires sets should be provided!