F1 Fanatic

55 comments on Super-soft tyres lasting far longer than expected

1. 

   Dan8 (@dan8) said on 26th May 2011, 16:27

   I am surprised to see that the super-softs are lasting for so much more longer than expected by Pirelli. We will have to wait and see if we have a repeat of the previous races with the tyre life decreasing over the race weekend. Also good to see the McLaren’s and the Ferrari of Alonso are quicker than Vettel over ultimate lap time.

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   • 

     Robbie said on 26th May 2011, 16:40

     Should prove interesting…wonder if SV or JB had a full tank of fuel onboard when they did their long runs…SV lapping in the high 1 min 18′s is nearly 4 seconds off FA’s best time, so he must have had a fair amount of fuel in his car…and why wouldn’t they want to practice that way…makes sense in determining the tires’ durability.

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   • 

     sw6569 (@sw6569) said on 26th May 2011, 18:43

     I’m not surprised really. The bridgestone tyres last year could last the whole race (the soft compound) pretty much – tyre degradation around monaco has always been very low! I’m more surprised that Pirelli only expected 10 laps out of the tyres here

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     • 

       UKfanatic (@) said on 28th May 2011, 2:09

       good point

       Reply
2. 

   Malibu_GP said on 26th May 2011, 16:38

   I think those conservative estimates bode well for Pirelli, as far as the fans and public perception are concerned. It’s always preferable to under-promise and over-deliver. Regardless, the various strategies will be exciting to watch unfold… I love these back to back weekends. Lessens the withdrawal. I swear I gotta get back to work…

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   • 

     F1iLike said on 26th May 2011, 20:11

     Or you could look at it in another way. How bad they are at estimating and have poor knowledge…

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3. 

   Lagavulin said on 26th May 2011, 16:43

   tyres that last, a real qualifyng, race with few pit stops…
   it’s like going back in years. God bless Montecarlo.

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   • 

     kateafan said on 26th May 2011, 16:52

     Indeed, all the way back to the golden age of 2010!

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   • 

     Icthyes said on 26th May 2011, 17:13

     Don’t celebrate too early, three-stops at least will probably be the norm.

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     • 

       damonsmedley (@damonsmedley) said on 26th May 2011, 17:16

       What’s wrong with lots of pit-stops? I’m going to enjoy this race because of the DRS having no effect, not because of fewer pit-stops…

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       • 

         BasCB (@bascb) said on 26th May 2011, 20:58

         Looking forward to exactly that as well. And qualifying promises to be a tight battle, that is, if Vettel does not magically improve and get it with a few tenths in the pocket.

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         • 

           US_Peter (@us_peter) said on 26th May 2011, 21:04

           I won’t be surprised if that does happen, but I’ll be much more excited if it’s close at the front. I’d love to see Alonso and Rosberg on the front row!
       • 

         Icthyes (@icthyes) said on 26th May 2011, 22:03

         Nothing! Especially somewhere like Monaco, you want something to break it up.

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       • 

         F1_Dave said on 26th May 2011, 22:22

         they take the racing off the track & into the pit lane.
         pit stops have ruined far more races than they helped.

         all the very best years in terms of on-track racing happened at the times when we didnt see many, if any pit stops.

         also all the years which featured a lot of overtaking in the past happened with less, most the time no pit stops.

         overtaking stats only started to drop massively when we started to see pit stops become more frequent. figures droppsed by over 100 from 93 to 94 when the introduction of refueling introduced more pit stops and pit strategy into f1.

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4. 

   phildick (@phildick) said on 26th May 2011, 16:48

   Looking forward to an interesting qualifying, at least there’s hope that there may be quite a few pole contenders. May the fastest one win :)

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5. 

   Alfie said on 26th May 2011, 17:04

   Keith, it’s van de Garde, not can :P

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   • 

     Alfie said on 26th May 2011, 17:05

     Yumm, candy guard.

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   • 

     Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine) said on 26th May 2011, 17:12

     Typo – fixed.

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   • 

     MVEilenstein (@mveilenstein) said on 26th May 2011, 20:42

     I like candy guard better.

     Reply
6. 

   charliewatts55 (@charliewatts55) said on 26th May 2011, 17:07

   Karthikeyan would’ve been 4th in gp2 qualifying! I find that incredible, even with track evolution. Unless there were problems we don’t know about. When was the last time an f1 car was slower than a gp2 car in the same weekend?

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   • 

     Alfie said on 26th May 2011, 17:11

     I think in Bahrain ’10 the HRT’s were slower.

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     • 

       Alfie said on 26th May 2011, 17:13

       Hey, what a great idea! If in the practices an F1 car is slower than some GP2 guys, they should have the choice of F1 or GP2.

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   • 

     Icthyes said on 26th May 2011, 17:14

     The new GP2 cars were made by the same company, Dallara, that made HRT’s car last year.

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     • 

       Alfie said on 26th May 2011, 17:17

       Oh yes, that’s true. Are they designin it in-house now or did they hire somebody? I know they parted with Dallara.

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       • 

         Icthyes (@icthyes) said on 26th May 2011, 22:05

         In-house but it’s a fairly obvious evolution.

         Reply
   • 

     Oliver said on 26th May 2011, 17:23

     Many factors responsible for that.
     The regulations actually give F1 cars less downforce than the GP2 cars. Only teams with experienced design staff, can use different tricks to get back lost downforce.
     Power is also useless in Monaco. A car with good Torque will be able keep up with a more powerful car.

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     • 

       Snow Donkey said on 26th May 2011, 18:02

       So not only is HRT horrendously slow, but is this to say that some gp2 drivers would qualify under the 107% rule? Obviously no quali times yet, and the times will tumble by a fair margin, but maybe f1 is too restricted these days? IMHO there should be a fair margin to the next category when you claim to be the pinnacle of motorsport. This is also not the first rumblings we’ve heard of f1 becoming slow, the hard pirelli has had drivers complaining of this as well…

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   • 

     BasCB (@bascb) said on 26th May 2011, 21:01

     Last time in Monaco HRT were slower than the pole time as well.

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7. 

   damonsmedley (@damonsmedley) said on 26th May 2011, 17:13

   Another unexpected property of the super-soft tyre was that some drivers were able to improve their times after their first lap.

   Interesting. This, I was not expecting. Qualifying mightn’t be as exciting as I’d hoped!

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   • 

     BasCB (@bascb) said on 26th May 2011, 21:02

     But this will make it more interesting. Just imagine Vettel, Hamilton, Button, Webber, Alonso, Rosberg and Massa all out for a 4 lap stint trying to get the best time, trading them for 3 laps in a row!

     Haven’t seen that for a while.

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     • 

       damonsmedley (@damonsmedley) said on 28th May 2011, 4:28

       Good point. I can’t wait! :D

       Reply
8. 

   marcusbreese (@marcusbreese) said on 26th May 2011, 17:48

   Check out Perez managing 24 laps, and posting a quick lap before his pitstop. I think Sauber must be looking at a one stop strategy here. If they can qualify around P12 or better, and keep one set of super-softs fresh then they must be looking at some decent points.

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   • 

     US_Peter (@us_peter) said on 26th May 2011, 21:01

     If anyone tries for a one stop it’ll be Perez.

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     • 

       BasCB (@bascb) said on 26th May 2011, 21:04

       I guess they will want to do this. It looks managable, Perez is looking very good here and this being Monaco they can get into very solid points like that.

       Who knows what Kobayashi will do!

       Reply
9. 

   Zindon (@zindon) said on 26th May 2011, 17:54

   Is there a rule that says the softer tyre can’t be used in FP1? Or is just the convention because the track will still be quite green during FP1?

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   • 

     Bleu said on 27th May 2011, 6:28

     The teams have two harder and one softer set of tyres for FP1 and FP2. They have to return a set of hard after FP1 and set of both after FP2. So there isn’t any rule but with the rule it’s understandable that they don’t do so.

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10. 

    VXR said on 26th May 2011, 17:55

    *sarcasm mode on* I hope that KERS, DRS and the tyres have no effect at all on the racing. So that we can watch cars with good race pace get stuck behind slower cars, with no chance of getting passed. Ah! The good old days! *sarcasm mode off*

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11. 

    PieLighter said on 26th May 2011, 18:18

    ROFLOL, Karthikeyan is slower than GP2 drivers!

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    • 

      Todfod (@todfod) said on 26th May 2011, 18:53

      I was in splits as well. Its not like HRT are that bad, and I’m sure Liuzzi will find the pace to qualify within the 107% rule. But Karthikeyan on the other hand, has just shown that he isn’t even worthy enough to participate in GP2, F1 is just way out of his talent league.

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      • 

        BasCB (@bascb) said on 26th May 2011, 21:08

        Yeah, when you think about it, the GP2 cars were in qualifying. Narain probably did mostly longer runs, looking at his amount of laps. And Liuzzi did his time with a session cut short and without any running in the afternoon.

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12. 

    S.J.M (@sjm) said on 26th May 2011, 18:46

    I like the Red markings for the tyres, makes some cars (Mclarens, Ferraris, Virgin) look really cool and goes with the liveries better then that horrid pale-green we’ve had before this year.

    And on the performance of the tyres, well they work well in Free pratice, but noones pushing at 10tenths yet, which will have them degrading a little quicker but it certainly enables the teams to think seriously about different strategies rather then just 1/2 drivers who can look after the tyes.

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13. 

    Tango said on 26th May 2011, 19:28

    I am at Monaco (great btw) and it has been scorching hot with no wind. They think temperature will lower from tomorrow so I wouldn’t be surprised if tyre wear would grow. It seemed to me the ferraris were pushing very hard, twitching and all. The others felt more composed. As for GP2 i’m surprised the top three went that fast with all the accidents. It was very enjoyable though and I’ll be happy to wake up tomorrow to see their race.

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14. 

    Mouse_Nightshirt (@mouse_nightshirt) said on 26th May 2011, 19:48

    I am not at all surprised at the news to be perfectly honest. Every race either the teams or Pirelli have been wrong, always underestimating how long the tyres would last.

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    • 

      HounslowBusGarage (@hounslowbusgarage) said on 26th May 2011, 20:32

      I think I’m quite relieved actually. Reading earlier in the week the prediction of just ten laps on the Super-Softs just filled me with disgust. I could not believe how irresponsible Pirelli were being in producing a tyre that self-destructed so quickly.
      But their estimate must have been based on a driver going tail out and right foot planted to the floor if cars are now doing 20 plus laps on the same tyres.
      So now we must have a strategy re-think. If the Super-Softs are worth 1.25 seconds a lap and they last 20 laps and a driver has two new and one old set available in the race, and if the moon is in the seventh house, and taking pi as three and a seventh, and if the chicken bones fall just right . . .

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      • 

        sato113 (@sato113) said on 26th May 2011, 21:30

        i think their estimate was based on a driver taking the whole circuit full throttle. ;)

        Reply
15. 

    Fixy (@fixy) said on 26th May 2011, 20:09

    Another unexpected property of the super-soft tyre was that some drivers were able to improve their times after their first lap. This could have an effect on qualifying, allowing drivers an extra chance to set a good lap if they get stuck in traffic

    Good. This is what I want, or else we’ll be going back to that method we had some years ago where drivers had one only chance and if they made a mistake they started last.

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    • 

      BasCB (@bascb) said on 26th May 2011, 21:10

      like the helmet avatar Fixy. And I agree on the qualifying. Nothing bad about a group of drivers trading fastest times for several laps.

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    • 

      DVC said on 27th May 2011, 7:06

      I think we will see some drivers using the same set of Super-Softs for Q1 and Q2 or for two runs in either session.

      Reply

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