Move to Pirellis hurt Ferrari more than most?

[philipbain]

I honestly think that the move from Bridgestone to Pirelli rubber will have a more profound effect on Ferrari than any other team. It seems that few commentators appreciate just how integral Bridgestone were to Ferrari's successes in recent years. Ferrari switched to Bridgestone in 1999 when Bridgestone became F1's soul tyre supplier, they worked closely with each other ever since, never deviating from Bridgestone, even when Michelin really came on song in the mid noughties. This means that Ferrari used Bridgestones for 12 seasons, the only other team to have run Bridgestones as long are Force India/Spyker/Midland/Jordan - but as you can appreciate, there has been much less continuity in other aspects of that team! The other top teams have worked with another supplier much more recently, most up until the end of 2006 when Michelin pulled out, they have relevant experience of non-Bridgestone tyre technology and the requirements of the car to optimise different tyres. Ferrari only have experience of Goodyear and Bridgestone tyres in the last 25+ years, and the Goodyears ran in F1 in the 90s are museum pieces today!

Could this be the root cause of Ferrari's seemingly inferior tyre management? The F150 (the Ferrari, not the Ford Truck, I know, so easy to get those two mixed up!) is very much an evolution of the Bridgestone shod cars of seasons before, therefore it may have Bridgestone-friendly characteristics which are not using the Pirellis in an optimal way. I'd love to hear your thoughts and which other teams you think have dealt with the switch to Pirellis the best.

[ioan]

Everyone used Bridgestones last year and had to change to Pirelli's this season.
Also the technical regulations changed quite a bit lately which means that this year's cars are not that similar to those of last year or 2 years ago.
If Ferrari are suffering because of the Pirelli tires than it is only due to poor car design.

[Sonic]

I don't think you can point the finger at Ferrari after one race and say "They don't understand the tyres" - no one does. Sauber surprised us all by managing a one stop, whilst Mark Webber was much harder on his rubber than his dominant team mate and Trulli complained he couldn't get any heat into the tyre. It's gonna take a few races to see how this shakes out.

[wedge]

Ferrari were doing mega consistant lap time in testing and most people concluded they were kind on their tyres.

[Garry Walker]

If Ferrari are suffering, that means some justice is in world after all.

[Mark]

Most teams designed their cars during the summer of 2010, when they didn't really have a clear idea of what the Pirelli's were going to be like. So it makes sense that some teams will have got it right, some will have got it wrong. It looks at the moment as if Sauber were a team to get things right. But you can be sure that Ferrari et al will be hard at work right now looking at all the data from Melbourne and making changes to their cars.

[Arjuna]

Character of Ferrari is not too good at the start, Alonso's start last weekend is like something to justify it, very slow start. More about driver problem? not sure, because Massa's start wasn't as bad as him, although finally he can retake the position slow start is a clear disadvantage. Could the tires contribute to it? probably, car might not have enough grip, during the race too Alonso looks like spending more tires, change tires faster.

[Azumanga Davo]

It's tough biscuits if Ferrari aren't immediately on the pace. It's the same situation for everyone, brand new tyres mean brand new setups and solutions. Tell them to get to work pronto.

[jens]

The tyres are still a big unknown and car performances may fluctuate over a season. At Albert Park they were struggling, but at Barcelona (where also the testing took place) Ferrari may be a frontrunner and the likes of Mercedes and Lotus much better than they were.

And if anything, I thought what we saw at Albert Park was a surprise in the sense of Ferrari's tyre management, because in the last seasons their car has been among the most tyre-friendly ones.

[Arjuna]

Performance of the car itself isn't at its best, so changing tyres quicker than everyone does would at some extent help improving performance of the car. Not really sure they will perform a better show off than last week in Malaysia, barely we can see their success in the last recent years. Sepang, I could be wrong though, isn't typical of race that favors character of Ferrari. Get to work pronto? yeah buckle down more on the car, Ferrari and Alonso certainly need to work hard to build Spanish steps.