Thread: Did Pirelli go too far?

I'd say it's a tad too late now. There's a big possibility Pirelli has produced 70% of the season's tire supply by now. I doubt they are going to change the compound judging from the response to Shuey's comments recently. Have they gone too far? Perhaps but only the teams and the drivers would know. IMHO, it wouldn't be an issue if an extra set of new hard and soft compound tires are given to all teams on Sunday. The main problem is teams that are fighting for the front rows had to sacrifice a set of new tires in Q3. They ended up having to use used tires on Sunday.

The funny thing is that they will change the tires for the next season, again surprising the teams... which will be cool for the fans xD

Let it go Mike.

Mark and Nico supported the new tyres, now Michael moans again. I may sound rude, but these tyres are the same for every driver. Shut up and drive, or retire, old man!

Let's see how he does in Spain, and whether that changes his tune. His team mate seems to be doing ok.

"We drive like on raw eggs and I don't want to stress the tyres at all." Schumacher.

Is that some kind of odd translation from German? Anyone know? I mean, I get that he means that he can't push to the limit of the car, but that's a really strange analogy...

Is it some mix up of "like walking on eggshells", perhaps?

Driving on eggs with petrol from Shell.

"Raw eggs" , as in "not hard boiled" .

He's just having a hard time managing the degradation , a skill he didn't need back in the days of custom Bridgestones .
The Merc has a very small window of temperature where it works best , and finding a set-up without zillions of laps around Fiorano is tough on the old guy .

Here you go, further proof of Pirelli's race tire manufacturing abilities:

Pirelli: Teams completely ignored advice | WSBK News | May 2012 | Crash.Net

Funny snippet:

Originally Posted by from above link

The rain tyres run well at 50per cent-60 per cent...

Have fun Pirelli fanboys! The 50% and 60% performance is the future of the Formula Pirelli.
This must be why they all look so fresh at the end of F1 races like Malaysia! They drive at 60% of the cars' and drivers' abilities!

Originally Posted by Fastonslicks

Still we had plenty of overtaking in 4 races dont you think?

Don't know about the fourth race but the first 3 were meh. If you call that overtaking then I pity your racing culture.

Originally Posted by henners88

It seems the teams are pushing beyond the advised limits simply for that extra edge, and therefore creating a problem for themselves. Rather than a driver blasting around as fast as they can in sprints, its become a situation where intelligence and planning is demanded of them instead.

Indeed. This brings to mind Red Bull exceeding the advised camber angle of the tyres last season and Adrian Newey experiencing "one of the scariest races I've been involved in" in Belgium as a consequence. Things turned out ok then but the bottom line that teams will always explore and push the limits. It's not Pirelli's fault when some go over that limit, or can't adapt to make the most of tyres that are the same for everyone.

Very interesting how everyone but Pirelli are wrong, even when they bring 4 years old tires to a WSBK race.

Originally Posted by henners88

Thanks for that. It seems the teams are pushing beyond the advised limits simply for that extra edge, and therefore creating a problem for themselves. Rather than a driver blasting around as fast as they can in sprints, its become a situation where intelligence and planning is demanded of them instead. It could be worse though, we could have a situation like 2010 where drivers can get 50 or more laps from one set of tyres and we are faced with races where its incredibly dull to watch. I'd rather see the order mixed up personally.

Should it be a shock that rain tires don't withstand dry track conditions? I think common sense would dictate otherwise, especially when intermediate tires are available. Maybe I should see if I can get some Pirelli slicks to fit one of our vehicles, and then use it in heavy rain so that I can complain about lack of grip.

Originally Posted by ioan

Very interesting how everyone but Pirelli are wrong.

Not everyone...Just Michael Schumacher

Originally Posted by ioan

Here you go, further proof of Pirelli's race tire manufacturing abilities:

Pirelli: Teams completely ignored advice | WSBK News | May 2012 | Crash.Net

Funny snippet:



Have fun Pirelli fanboys! The 50% and 60% performance is the future of the Formula Pirelli.

Which manufacturer do you think does produce superbike race wets that can be used for multiple laps at 210mph on a mostly dry track?

Originally Posted by ioan

Have fun Pirelli fanboys! The 50% and 60% performance is the future of the Formula Pirelli.

By the way crash.net's article is a misquote with the "%". What the original Pirelli statement said was that the wets are designed to run at 50-60°C. They were reaching 200°C on the dry straights at Monza which was why they were disintegrating.

Originally Posted by AndyL

By the way crash.net's article is a misquote with the "%". What the original Pirelli statement said was that the wets are designed to run at 50-60°C. They were reaching 200°C on the dry straights at Monza which was why they were disintegrating.

There you go bringing logic and common sense into the arguement - you should know that they are most unwelcome in these parts!

Originally Posted by ioan

Here you go, further proof of Pirelli's race tire manufacturing abilities:

Pirelli: Teams completely ignored advice | WSBK News | May 2012 | Crash.Net

Wow! You're posting Crash.net as a source to talk trash on Pirelli? Clutching at straws ol' boy.

Originally Posted by ArrowsFA1

Indeed. This brings to mind Red Bull exceeding the advised camber angle of the tyres last season and Adrian Newey experiencing "one of the scariest races I've been involved in" in Belgium as a consequence. Things turned out ok then but the bottom line that teams will always explore and push the limits. It's not Pirelli's fault when some go over that limit, or can't adapt to make the most of tyres that are the same for everyone.

As I have stated earlier, Pirelli has given to F1 what was asked of them and it can make excellent drivers like Mike, Lewis, and Kimi look bad when the strategy is wrong. I don't mean to be critical of these three but they are the ones that come to mind in specific situations of the guys at the pointy end having been caught out and probably because of a bad pit wall decision . I’m sure there are others, in fact I'm sure every driver has had the tire degradation whoopsies, but just not so glaring, or nobody even said anything about it, or
I just don't remember them.
Using these types of tires as Arrows pointed out brings a couple extra layers of technical know-how, Strategy, driver savvy, along with both the drivers and the technicians on the wall having to be smart in concert about their usage. That means most of the time what they are trying to do is quite simply getting the best speed along with the most life out of their tires. Whether you like it or not is a different story. I’m pleased that the races are not quite as processional as they have been in the past, but that is JMHO.