Tyre marbles a problem for overtaking, says di Resta

2011 F1 testing

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Paul di Resta, Force India, Jerez, 2011

Paul di Resta says the new Pirelli tyres generate an “incredible” amount of marbles which could make overtaking difficult.

Chunks of rubber come off the tyres and form ‘marbles’ which lie off-line on the track.

Speaking after his first run in the Force India VJM04 he said:

“I did run the track after the first day and the marbles off the tyres were incredible.

“You could actually see it driving around. We were doing some aero passes earlier and when you go off-line the pick-up is incredible. And when you try to drive again the tyres don’t seem to clean up.

“But it’s just one of these things, you’re not sure how it’s going to be. It really depends on how the track rubbers in.

“This track, after three days, should be in good shape. It’s not too much of an issue when you’re on-line but overtaking could get a bit difficult. If you dive down the inside and there’s marbles everywhere it’s going to be difficult to stop.

“They’re not all falling apart, it’s not nearly as bad as that, there’s just a good bit of degradation.

“It’s difficult to put your finger on what each person is using. It’s not necessarily your softer compounds that are difficult to get on with and I think that’s what you’re seeing. ”

Di Resta spent much of the test working on brakes:

“Initially the first impressions were quite good. We have had quite a difficult day with brakes and stuff, for me getting confident with it.

“We did try and solve problems as much as we could for me through the day and it was more about just trying to get comfortable in the car so we can have a good programme tomorrow to try and run through some set-ups once I’m in a good situation with the car and have a good enough feeling to adapt myself to that.”

But his session finished when he spun off late in the test:

“I locked the rears – I have had a lot of braking issues today. I’ve not been confident, I’ve not been happy with them, and it just caught me out.”

Vitaly Petrov reported similar difficulties yesterday in his Renault, but unlike that car the Force India has not run KERS at this test.

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    23 comments on “Tyre marbles a problem for overtaking, says di Resta”

    1. So you got your KERS on, you got your rear wing flat, hammer down.. You pull out off Buttons slip stream trying to own the corner right in front of you both as your side by side, screaming past the crowd baited at the apex……

      …. You hit the marbles, traction is lost, the car begins to float, your car changes direction and you rotate round out of control …. Suddenly steam rushes out of Buttons sidepod with your nosecone buried in it…

      :)

      1. Now that would be a bit of a bummer to have all overtakes happing like that this season. But just think of the one guy making it somehow work, that will be an amazing site to behold!

        1. And they called him.. Kamai Kobayashi ;)

          1. who’s actually Kamui Kobayashi’s cousin.

            1. Spelling is not my strong point on this iPad… It’s constantly correcting/altering my input…

            2. Lose the ipad! Its Apple’s first foray into the feminine napkin market anyway.

            3. Yeah, cause if it was Kamuie, he’d be flying off the track all the time instead of making the move stick.

      2. Sounds like a carbon copy of vettel’s driving at Spa then!

        1. I think that was the point ;)

      3. it’ll certainly make things more interesting!

      4. But McLaren has reinforced their sidepods this year with a Vettel-deflector, so it won’t happen like that again;-)

    2. Could be a good thing, this might make overtaking more challenging and less artificial than I was worried the ARW would make it.

    3. Stil a lot of learning the tyres and new bits on the cars going on.

      I hope DiResta gets a decent run in the first races, otherwise I can see Mallya already putting the pressure on by giving the Hulk a lot of FP running.

    4. First overtaking will be too easy, now it will be difficult. We can’t win!

      If it makes things difficult, good. KERS and the DRS will enable drivers to get closer than the wake has previously allowed them too. the marbles will keep it a test of skill. Best of all worlds, I reckon.

      1. This. I cannot believe its so bad that drivers will forego attempting moves altogether, especially if they have a speed advantage.

      2. The primary problem is that they change 20 things each year instead of one.

        Passes will have to be on the straights now where a car gets the boost and DRS going and pulls around in front of the lead car and back onto the race line before the turn. I think it will be less neteraining this was. (Yeah, I’m using netertain from now on!)

    5. Well there goes millions of dollars on devolopment of KERS an flexy wings, well unless Pirelli take this as feedback and redesign accordingly and thus begins again the ever decreasing circle.

    6. That will be interesting as with marbles not cleaning up easily anyone who runs off line will have trouble to get in grip with the car.

    7. There is a significant difference now: Instead of 7 total hours (4 testing, 1 qualifying, up to 2 race), they have now been running for 23 hours. I’d guess that magnifies the issue quite a bit.

      1. Exactly the point I was gonna make.
        But maybe Di Resta is comparing it to the conditions he’s experienced at previous tests.

    8. Ted Roalfkuepter
      13th February 2011, 10:38

      Unfortunate that there was never an article headline reading “No marbles, but hard tyres still a problem for overtaking, says x“. It looks like the teams and drivers alike will just have to deal with “clag” off the racing line. Hoping that the FIA and Pirelli can stick to their initial mandate with the tyre specifications even as “it’s the Pirellis” begins to become one of the go-to lines being doled out in the media; that’s just in testing. Who knows how that will magnify come the first GP weekend…what is for sure is that a harder range of tyre compounds had its chance the last season (the first without refueling) and was shown to work for much of the race, be it the option or prime tyre.

    9. There were loads of marbles at the Canadian GP. It was still a great race, IIRC. In the past there have been marbles at many other great races.

    10. If I can’t see some passing I’ll settle for a lot of cars ending up in the wall. At least it will give us something to look at. LOL

      Somehow I do not think it’s as much of a problem since there is only one complaining at the moment. If a lot of the top guys were singing(complaining) from the same hymn sheet I would be worried a lot more.

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