David Coulthard: “This is another Senna situation”

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David Coulthard is worried about the planned ban on tyre warmers for the 2009 season:

The tyres are operating in a very different temperature range, and we are talking about some cars with 20psi and others that have just 14psi. This is another Senna situation.

Does he have justified cause for alarm?

The planned rules changes for 2009 will see Formula 1 cars run on slick tyres with lower downforce – and a ban on tyre heaters. This is in addition to next year’s ban on driving aids such as traction control.

Tyre warmers have been used since the mid-1980s to bring tyres closer to operating temperatures before they are put on a car, meaning they can give more grip sooner.

However tyre warmers are not legal in other top single-seater series such as Champ Car. So on the face of it, what’s the problem with banning them?

Coulthard explains:

I am quite concerned about the temperature differential between the cars, especially in qualifying.

I have talked to quite a few drivers about it and they all shared the same opinion that without the blankets (tyre warmers), when a car from the pits joins the track when other cars are on a hot lap, it is pretty scary. There is such a big difference of speed.

This is a classic Formula 1 dilemma: on one hand, it is essential that Formula 1 is as safe as it can be; on the other hand, the act of driving the cars must be sufficiently physically and mentally difficult to challenge the best racing drivers in the world. Not an easy compromise to strike.

Before I read Coulthard’s comment I was all in favour of the ban on tyre warmers. Sensitivity to tyres is a vital part of a driver’s skill and on the face of it if Champ Car drivers can cope without tyre warmers, so can F1 drivers.

But I don’t think Coulthard is being unnecessarily alarmist, even when he compares the change to the circumstances of Ayrton Senna’s death in 1994.

That year saw a raft of changes to the cars including a ban on driver aids and other alterations which dramatically changed the handling characteristics of the cars. One of the more widely-supported theories on the cause of Senna’s fatal crash are that his tyre pressures dropped so low during a safety car period (which at the time were still a fairly new feature to F1) that he lost control of the car at almost maximum speed.

Perhaps a ban on tyre warmers is something F1 should aspire towards, but take care over its implementation and not rush it in along with a host of other changes?

Or has the sport become hyper-sensitive to safety?

More on testing and safety

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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23 comments on “David Coulthard: “This is another Senna situation””

  1. I also read he article about coulthards worries on removing tyre warmers – I think that he is quite right to question this move – not all of the changes are detrimental to racing but if you are racing you cant cut back on safety – fair enough cut back on other things which give minimal results for millions spent but they work and we want good racing not fatalities.

  2. I think he has a point, but:

    What is the ban hoping to achieve? Surely if that differential is there then the tyre manufacturers and teams will put a huge amount into development to ensure that the difference is gone as quickly as possible (as early in the lap as possible). Who knows what they will come up with.

    So what are the gains here? Certainly no cost savings, little if any on track action differences, more first corner pile-ups, Perhaps it will force less durable tyres that heat up quicker, but die quicker, but that will add more pit stops, is that what we want?

    I am not sure I see the point.

  3. If the Federation is very particular about dis-allowing tyre blankets then it should allow Bridgestone to make its compounds softer so that they get to the operating temperature quickly.

  4. exactly the question Andrew asked came to my mind .. What would that ban achieve ? nothing, only millions spent on heating up the tyres quicker on track, while there is simple solution now – the tyre warmers…

  5. The FIA has degenerated to be a committee ran by people who by themselves can’t get anything useful done & as a committee can’t do anything really useful.

  6. Just as Andrew and others have said, if anything this ban will cost more than it will save. So what is the point? All it does is make the racing less safe and cause more money to be spent, which I thought is exactly what FIA was trying to avoid.

  7. Keith: about Senna’s death, I thought it was more or less estabilished that he died because the direction bar (or “wheel bar”… I don’t know how to say its name in english, but I hope you understand me) was lengthened by William’s after his own request, and that new part broke, so he completely lost control… It was a widely-spread theory, at least in Brazil…

  8. Senna’s car went straight on without the front wheels being turned at all – the steering broke, it was that alone that caused the accident. Coulthard would have been better advised to point at Gilles Villeneuve’s death which was caused by speed differentials. That is his strongest point, that cars exiting the pits would be unable to get up to racing speeds for a lap or two and so become mobile chicanes.

  9. I don’t think involving Senna’s name in this discussion does anyone any favours, but I do agree with him. Not necessarily on the safety issue, but on the fact that I don’t think it’ll give anyone any pleasure to see cars with cold tires lumber around on track unable to really race until they reach the right temperature.
    This might be interesting at the start when everyone has the same problem but not really after a pit stop.

  10. DC knows his stuff, and if he speaks I tend to listen, but I don’t quite see what it is Champcar does so differently that means they don’t have the same issues. Is it because their tyres are completely different in philosophy and construction?

  11. I’m thinking about the slick tyres they used in Jerez last week. Will them be exactly like the ones F1 drivers are going to use in 2009?

    Maybe they wil change its construction or compounds. It’s not definitive i would say. It was a test to see how well the tyre managed to go around the track, in real situations.

    But if they will use that tyre as definitive, i don’t see any reason to go to that extreme. If the differences in speed between the cars with used tyres and the ones with fresh new tyres is so big, then why FIA ban the tyre warmers?

    But we all know how well FIA ‘knows’ F1. They are so capable of destroying something useful or ocnvert it in something really unnecesary and ridiculous.
    The organization suffers from lack of intelligent persons who really know what the technical side of F1 is. Those guys at FIA were overtook by F1 itself and the teams long time ago.

  12. DC has always been… girly.

    Every comment he makes is about being “safer” and all. The blankets should not be banned, this is about going as fast as possible, in the least time conceivable.

    Sensitivity to tires you say? Yes, at 280km/h on a corner, NOT on your pre-quali lap.

    DC should work for the FIA.

  13. “One of the more widely-supported theories on the cause of Senna’s fatal crash are that his tyre pressures dropped so low during a safety car period (which at the time were still a fairly new feature to F1) that he lost control of the car at almost maximum speed.”

    Wasn’t that because his cooler tires caused his ride height to drop, and then he bottomed out and lost all grip? I don’t think it was only due to lack of grip from cool tires. The minimum ride height has since been raised to prevent that scenario from happening again. As for the difference in speed, I thought I read somewhere that slicks build up heat quicker than grooved tires do, and that, combined with different compounds, might help minimize the speed differential problem. But I’ve never seen cold tires cause a problem in ChampCar, other than drivers out-braking themselves and going for a little tour out on the grass.

    And I know it’s not my place to say this, having never raced a car in my life, but I do think the F1 has become somewhat hyper-sensitive to safety. Just the other day I read an article (I think you linked it in your last blog round-up) when some drivers wanted barries at the Nurburgring to avoid colliding with trees, but others, like Jacky Ickx, were opposed because they thought it made the ‘Ring too safe, and destroyed the purity of true grand prix racing! How drivers have changed. Nowadays drivers don’t even like gravel run-offs, no matter how big they are. They much prefer pavement apparently. I know I’m an ass for saying that, but look at the circuits that kind of thinking is giving us now. Some of those run-offs are bigger than football fields.

    Oh, and Senna’s accident was due to a failure in his steering column.

  14. DC just likes seeing his name in the press, he knows he can’t do anything about it because he’s just a driver and a rubbish one at that.

  15. I can’t see that tire warmers are an excessive safety measure. One thing to remember is that Champ Car does-or did when I paid them attention- a rolling start. Maybe things have changed the last few years. I’ve always wondered what kind of difference that does make to the temperatures, though, maybe none. I do think that launching from a standing start on cold tires would be quite different than taking a rolling start on cold tires.

    I don’t think Coulthard is being an alarmist at all. I do remember at the time of Senna’s crash there was a discussion that cold tires due to the restart may have caused deflation on one of his, but i never really bought into that. it did look more like a major steering malfunction. The fact is we’ve seen plenty of near incidents when drivers are on cold tires and yeah, ok they should be able to control that but, really, is it worth the cost of whatever these teams come up with to get those tires to heat up faster? actually, thinking about that, what they come up with actually worries me more than the FIA having so little faith that any of these drivers actually being able to drive.

  16. A few words clipped from the article: “F1 … must be sufficiently physically and mentally difficult to challenge the best racing drivers in the world.” Odd words to use discussing F1 racing….more appropriate in the world of rallying or dirt track Sprint Cars! F1 has ‘driver aids’ as is pretty much called by the team manager in the pits!

  17. Clipped from the article: However tyre warmers are not legal in other top single-seater series such as Champ Car. So on the face of it, what’s the problem with banning them?

    Other series tires are different construction and don’t benefit as much from pre-heating OR you could say F1 tyres are more susseptible to temperature and benefit from
    pre-heating…….it’s in the tyres!

  18. Well it doesnt seem to matter about slicks as max today seems to have ruled them out – before any cars race with new aerodynamics – please get rid of the pillick

  19. In the quote I read he didn’t rule them out, he said they won’t be brought back if the changes to the aerodynamic rules fail to reduce cornering speeds sufficiently (the emphasis is mine):

    The theory is: much less downforce and more mechanical grip should improve the racing and overtaking.

    If it turns out that the promised reduction in downforce hasn’t happened and the cornering speeds go up, we’ll just put the grooves back in.

    We don’t want to do that, but sometimes we’ve been promised by the aerodynamicists a 50 percent reduction in downforce and it doesn’t materialize. Then the speeds rocket up again. We’ve got the answer if we have to.”

    Autosport – Mosley says grooves could stay in F1 (external)

  20. it was the same extract that I read Keith – but knowing he said that they may/not be banned slicks that is – would you like to spend any development budget for less downforce and find later you have to start over again when ribbed are brought back? – max has said he wants to cut down on the costs for F1 budgets – too help the smaller teams – how do they cope with a potential and is potential waste of a years development to run low down force cars – big teams and it’s been done before can afford to have 2 spec cars developed to cover both possibilities and switch over ?

  21. If Senna’s accident was caused by a failed steering column, why was it reported that car’s telemetry recorded steering movements normally all the way until the collision with the wall?

  22. Andy Smith (Canada)
    26th February 2008, 6:49

    Vertigo
    When Dc talks be it safety or not,your listening to the oldest & wisest of F1 drivers.
    Vertigo..isn,t that like disilusioned!
    DC knows knows his asphalt like back of his hands especially driving them roads in Scotland.
    Give er snot Davey!

  23. F1 cars and Champ cars do not use the same tyres!

    If they don’t allow tyre warmers then they HAVE to change the tyre s so they work well enough in the range of cold to hot to be predictable.

    This tyre warmer issue has come up before and the cost of it is nominal so they aren’t really going to save a lot of money here. The good could be that on cool tyres the drivers will have an easier time of it.

    Speaking of “cold tyres”, anyone remember the 1st corner of the Hungarian GP last year? Yes, you can pass on the track!

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