"pick up some rubber" ?

[MrPonx]

ok, I LOVE F1, and I've been following up for years, but I no almost nothing about technicalities in F1, just the obvious ones.

on the team radio the guy told Kimi at the end of the race to make sure he "picks up some rubber". what does that mean, and why?


these types of questions are not against the forum rules right? if so, please delete

thanks in advance :)

[WelshLegend]

it means when the drivers go of the racing line to collect debris that will stick to the tyres on the car. They do this because the car is then weighed to see if it is at the minimum weight. The more weight on your car, the safer you will be.

[leopard]

:D before being deleted, what is your perception about 'rubber'?

[Flat.tyres]

interesting point actually.

you can pick up a kilo of marbles by running over them and making sure your car conforms to the minimum weight.

problem is though that as the FIA got all silly with honda, Ferrari have to PROVE that their car conformed to minimum weight at all times during the event. if they need to pick up marbles to reach that minimum weight, shouldnt the FIA skim the tyres before weighing the car or be asking ferrari to demonstrate they conformed at all times?

;)

[MrPonx]

Edited ..

1kg?? that's a lot, I thought few grams at max

[Flat.tyres]

Edited ..

1kg?? that's a lot, I thought few grams at max

i dont know the exact weights but you can pick up quite a bit. the tyres are on the point of melting after the race and the marbles stick to the shell and melt in causing other marbles to stick.

[Viktory]

I've heard it's up to 1kg per tyre, so in total, 4 kg.

[SGWilko]

"picks up some rubber". what does that mean, and why?


Because Kimi has finally remembered why he is there - i.e. to win - his mechanic is so ecstatic he wants him to pick up a rubber to give him a good seeing to? :D

[fan-veteran]

I think that is nothing about weight. One of the commentators i remember speaking that they (from Ferrari) want to hide tha actual status of the worn tires when the car is parked in the pit lane in front of everyone. But i may be in error .....

[Erki]

Maybe if it's weight then it would be better to just weigh the car without tyres?

[Flat.tyres]

Maybe if it's weight then it would be better to just weigh the car without tyres?

this would seem logical but when a team comes in for a weigh check, the 30 seconds longer to get the wheels on or off is a long time in qual.

just an opinion but that would hit me first if I were a boss and this was proposed.

[cannonman]

Don't they also do it to increase the ride height?

[Flat.tyres]

Don't they also do it to increase the ride height?

thats a new one on me. why would they? the car is just about the lightest it is all race so will be fractions abouve what it would be in racr speed. its also going slowly so not experiencing race downforce further raising the ride hight.

why would they want to? unless your talking about illegal ride height which I think is checked with new tyres (not 100% sure) :confused:

[Viktory]

Don't they also do it to increase the ride height?

yep, forgot to put that in my post. I think it's for the ride height too, again something I remember hearing somewhere :p

[TMorel]

Picking up rubbers?
So it's nothing to with buying some condoms for his post race parties at the strip clubs then?

[kalasend]

......shouldnt the FIA skim the tyres before weighing the car or be asking ferrari to demonstrate they conformed at all times?

;)

Nobody can measure the weight when the car is running....so I guess what's important is how much the car weighes when it stopped.

[leopard]

Not enough time to measure the weight of stopped car in the pit, you have to make it in hurry, if not they will take your outlet fuel stick with the car into the race :)

Pick up some rubber refers to the gauntlet, pick up the gauntlet that usually means to motivate the driver give more challenges and not to easily give up to another diver(s) pressuring him.

Hope this helps.

[Dzeidzei]

I think that is nothing about weight. One of the commentators i remember speaking that they (from Ferrari) want to hide tha actual status of the worn tires when the car is parked in the pit lane in front of everyone. But i may be in error .....

The vet has got it. All this talk about adding weight by collecting rubber is stupid. Why not take one of the marshalls aboard and quarantee that the car meets the minimum weight?

Do you really think any team would risk the results by having a cars a few kilos light? The idea is absurd.

[Hawkmoon]

I think that is nothing about weight. One of the commentators i remember speaking that they (from Ferrari) want to hide tha actual status of the worn tires when the car is parked in the pit lane in front of everyone. But i may be in error .....

That commentator has his hand on it. All the teams tell their drives to pick up marbles after the race. It's purely to ensure that the car is over the minimum weight.

Remember back to Hungary last year. Kubica ws disqualified because his tyres were so worn that when his car was weighed it was found to be under weight. He wasn't able to pick up enough marbles to put his car above the weight limit.

[janneppi]

The vet has got it. All this talk about adding weight by collecting rubber is stupid. Why not take one of the marshalls aboard and quarantee that the car meets the minimum weight?

Do you really think any team would risk the results by having a cars a few kilos light? The idea is absurd.
Didn't Kubica get disqualified last year for having an underweight car? The team took the blame for that saying they forgot to tell him to pick up rubber.

[leopard]

How is the mechanism collecting rubber/marbles? :confused:

[PSfan]

Where's Robert Kubica when you need him, he could answer this question :)

I believe he was Dq'd after his first race because his car weighed in light post race, and BMW's explanation was that he didn't pick up the marbles at the end.

The picking up marbles at the end of the race is to offset the tire wear in the first place (those marbles came from somewhere...) when the cars are set up, it is on new tires so the pre race inspection is also with on the new tires.

As to any threat that the cars are running underweight because of warn tires... minimum weight is measured with the car dry... no fluids so unless a team runs the tank dry, I'm sure there is enough weight in the tanks to keep the car above the minimum weight during the race...

[leopard]

No need Kubica to answer this deviating question. :)

FIA has strictly implemented minimum weight of the car but on the other hand putting some marble to help the weight after the race is legal, a contrariwise.

Did FIA have the standard how many marbles the driver allowed can get into the car?

[janneppi]

How is the mechanism collecting rubber/marbles? :confused:
Do you how it get's stuck in the tyres?
Warm, soft rubber meets harder pice of rubber -> hard rubber get's stuck. :)

[leopard]

If so I'd suggest them to drive wide on the last corner and get more marbles from gravel stuck into the rubber.
"That's the clever mechanism FIA can't investigate upon", Kubica said.

[Flat.tyres]

The vet has got it. All this talk about adding weight by collecting rubber is stupid. Why not take one of the marshalls aboard and quarantee that the car meets the minimum weight?

Do you really think any team would risk the results by having a cars a few kilos light? The idea is absurd.

this is a joke, right?

i would still like to know how the FIA can penalise a team for "potentially" being underweight due to not having enough fuel where they can let cars pick up weight in this manner. isnt it contradictory or did the FIA just have an axe to grind against Honda :devil:

[leopard]

Initially it wasn't a joke if we aren't aware of being done :D

[Marbles]

For some reason, I really felt the need to chime in on this. I always thought the reason for this was so Bernie could sell them on EBay. Genuine F1 Marbles!


Why not take one of the marshalls aboard and quarantee that the car meets the minimum weight?

I love it. :) I can see them pulling into the pits with chicane pylons, marshaling flags and soda cans stuck to their wheels. "Kimi, someone knocked over a trash bin at turn five. Swing by there on your way back to the pits."


If so I'd suggest them to drive wide on the last corner and get more marbles from gravel stuck into the rubber.


Wow. This has potential. It's the most important race of the year. The championship is on the line. You run light and low and on the cool down lap might I suggest you run WAY wide. Steering failure... who knew? Take off a few wings, a sidepod and maybe a wheel but you keep it moving. You struggle to make back to the pits but you fail just short of them. Try checking the ride height, skid plate and weight on that baby!!!

Muhahahaha!!!

Actually, I've heard Brundle comment that it's for weight. I'm sure it's done as an added guarantee that you'll make weight. It's not part of the plan.

[tinchote]

It's definitely to put some weight into the car. And it has nothing to do with running underweight. Lots of things in the car worn out during the race (fluids, the wooden plank, the tyres, even the engine), and although that is already contemplated in the rules, getting the marbles is a chance to compensate for that, and that way you avoid risking a call from the stewards.

[leopard]

I found more people have such high of sense of humor, glad for it.

[Valve Bounce]

ok, I LOVE F1, and I've been following up for years, but I no almost nothing about technicalities in F1, just the obvious ones.

on the team radio the guy told Kimi at the end of the race to make sure he "picks up some rubber". what does that mean, and why?


these types of questions are not against the forum rules right? if so, please delete

thanks in advance :)

Let me clear this up for you, since nobody else here will. In certain polite circles, you don't say "go get some condoms". These items are referred to as rubbers, so when Kimi won, he may have scored a couple of the pit babes, and his race engineer was reminding him to "go pick up some rubber" meaning he should be sure to have safe sex that evening following the formalities and celebrations.

[leopard]

a more level headed meaning, although it was a doubt that F1 engineers would have such dirty joke