Tyre compounds for first five races of 2009
26th February 2009, 21:46 by Keith Collantine 13 Comments »
Bridgestone has published details of the tyre allocations for the first five F1 races of 2009.
They vary substantially from the options available last year, because F1 has switched to slick tyres and also because Bridgestone are now bringing compounds that are two steps apart rather than one.
As a sign of how much things have changed, in 2007 Bridgestone brought the medium and hard compounds to Bahrain – this year they will use super soft and medium:
2009 F1 tyre compounds – rounds 1-5
2009 Australian Grand Prix (Albert Park, Melbourne): Super Soft, Medium
2009 Malaysian Grand Prix (Sepang International Circuit): Soft, Hard
2009 Chinese Grand Prix (Shanghai International Circuit): Super Soft, Medium
2009 Bahrain Grand Prix (Bahrain International Circuit): Super Soft, Medium
2009 Spanish Grand Prix (Circuit de Catalunya): Soft, Hard
2008 F1 tyre compounds for the same circuits
For comparison here are the compounds used at those tracks in 2008:
Albert Park: Soft, Medium
Sepang: Medium, Hard
Shanghai: Medium, Hard
Bahrain: Soft, Medium
Catalunya: Medium, Hard
Chaz said on 26th February 2009, 22:34
Interesting. I wonder how these compounds will play out…
patrickl said on 27th February 2009, 1:39
Does this mean that Ferrari got their wish for softer tyres? Or are all bets on this off due to the new rules?
Jay Menon said on 27th February 2009, 2:48
Its interesting that they’ve planned to run super soft in Melbourne and Sakhir. Wouldn’t this mean the tyres would be used up faster? especially with the heat in both places? The former will not see heat levels as high as the latter, but Australia is going through a heat wave just now. It’ll be interesting to see how Lewis handles his tyres in both these races.
The compounds for Sepang and Shanghai look to make sense.
S Hughes said on 27th February 2009, 10:27
In the official F1 review book for last year, the McLaren engineer said that Heikki used his tyres very badly and didn’t mention Lewis’ bad tyre management. Why all the hoo ha about Lewis’ tyre management all the time? Fed up with it!
todd said on 27th February 2009, 2:53
I’d say most bets are off with the new rules, its all a bit different with tire loads now that mechanical grip is higher, who’s to say ferrari’s new chassis still works better with softer compounds.
zplol said on 27th February 2009, 4:03
I wonder if redbull’s new (old!) pull rod design is going to help with this…
Paige said on 27th February 2009, 5:02
It’s pretty weird that they’re mixing Super Soft with Medium and Soft with Hard. Usually in the past, they have paired a tire with the next hardest/softest compound. (I.E. Hard-Medium, Medium-Soft, Soft-Super Soft)
This is going to complicate things for the teams big time. It’s going to make it much harder for them to find the balance between getting the most out of the tires and preserving them.
matt said on 27th February 2009, 5:11
another unecessary level of complexity isnt it? this is the kind of thing in f1 that really annoys me. that and painting them green. my god, i hate the politics.
Michel S. said on 27th February 2009, 6:00
Not necessarily — at too many races last year, the complaint from teams and drivers is that the two tyre choices are more or less identical, and it’s really hard to choose between them.
A two-gradation difference would probably be beneficial on both ends: the teams that either are very soft on tires (they can run the super softs) or that need harder tires (anyone Lewis is driving for…)
sumedh said on 27th February 2009, 9:51
Nice spot, Paige.
But yeah; it is good to have more of a performance difference
Adrian said on 27th February 2009, 8:22
All this talk of Lewis being hard on his tires, you have to think that McLaren will have taken that into account by now when designing the car so as to balance it with his style…
Internet said on 27th February 2009, 19:43
I am fine with the two compound rule. But I just wished they let the actual teams decide which two compounds they want to run rather than BS.
Chris Reynolds said on 27th February 2009, 23:39
Bahrain is the only one I question….Too hot for softies.