In today’s round-up: Pirelli says it won’t be using the hard compound in the next three races, and boss Paul Hembery says it’s unlikely to return this season.
Links
Top F1 links from the past 24 hours:
Pirelli is set to stop using its hardest compound for the rest of the season (Autosport)
"Ferrari’s chances in this year’s championship look set to be boosted, with Pirelli having revealed that it is unlikely to use the hard tyre in the remaining races of the season."
Domenicali buries chance of Hamilton racing for Ferrari (James Allen on F1)
Domenicali: "I am pleased [Lewis Hamilton] said ‘never say never’ on the subject of Ferrari, in fact it is logical that everyone aspires to come to Maranello sooner or later, given what we represent in the history of this sport. Having said that, I don’t think the question will arise, neither in the short nor in the long term."
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Comment of the day
Thanks to Tom Hitchings for telling us about his experience watching the Hungarian Grand Prix. TrueF1Grit said:
I’d also advise other Fanatics to visit the Hungaroring. I went last year and every grandstand has a sensational view, we sat on the last corner, but we could see the entire last sector and start straight, including the pits! And it’s great value.
That’s the great thing about it, it’s such good value for money and it’s so close to Budapest so you can get a cheap hotel and cheap transport to the circuit! We considered going back this year, too but it clashed with other plans but we’ll likely be there next year. I’d of liked it to have been a bit cooler as it was this year, it was so hot last year!
TrueF1Grit
From the forum
Monkzie asks, What exactly is worth £61 per race?
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On this day in F1
Happy birthday to 1992 world champion Nigel Mansell who is 58 today!
SoLiDG
8th August 2011, 0:05
So the Italian tyre company will not use the tyres wich don’t suit the Italian team? :)
Probably nothing there but let’s start some controversy :)
Elliot Horwood
8th August 2011, 0:48
you can get SkySports for £22 a month on freeview using topup tv tho? so it could work out £11 a race weekend if 2 in 1 month.
matt90 (@matt90)
8th August 2011, 1:04
Didn’t know that was possible. Problem is, don’t you need freeview+ before you can do that?
SparkyJ23 (@sparkyj23)
8th August 2011, 4:32
You need a Freeview box which accepts a top-up card. You may need to pay £10 for the card itself too.
So add the cost of the box and the card to that £11 a race.
unocv12
8th August 2011, 6:18
actually you get 10 races on BBC as per normal so it’s only 10 you need SkySports for.
I’m not sure if you can get it month by month or on a year thing.
Ifit’s month by month and you want it from March through to November (9 months) at 22 pounds a month for 10 races
It costs 19.8 pounds per race
If it’s a year contract for that price then 12 months makes it 26.4 pounds PER RACE.
THe other 10 races are FREE
ajokay (@)
8th August 2011, 8:02
Although the other 10 races aren’t free, they’ll cost you £14.55 per race, which is one tenth of your licence fee.
Icthyes (@icthyes)
8th August 2011, 9:22
It’s £24 a month now, although it says “no contract” so I’m guessing you can cancel for 4 months of the year.
Adrian J
8th August 2011, 10:18
I thought you can only get Sky Sports 1 and 2 using topup TV though?
And it’s a fair bet that F1 won’t be on either of those during the Football Season.
BasCB (@bascb)
8th August 2011, 7:18
I rather read this as not using tyres, they know the teams will be able to make last for almost a complete GP next year. And it was only used for a few races this year anyhow.
UKfanatic (@)
8th August 2011, 23:02
soLiDG, I was about to write that but now starting to think about it, I trully believe on its justification, for example Martin Brundle almost accused Pirelli from evolving there tyres to become more and more durable which in fact helps Mclaren rather than Ferrari and it gives a better public image of Pirelli.
UKfanatic (@)
8th August 2011, 23:08
.. and if they say the new medium is the old Hard from Catalunya, we will see even more times that compound, of course because of the pre-dated allocation. The hard tyre new medium that almost let Hamilton win back in may when Red Bulls were very strong. So Im starting to think that Pirelli isnt trying to favore anyone but the show, im a bit bias some will say Ferrari (me) some will say Mclaren sure if it stays that way it wont be red bull.
MGriffin90 (@mgriffin90)
8th August 2011, 0:16
The conspiracy theorists will have a frickin field day with that decision from Pirelli, if Ferrari do go on to win one or both of the world titles…
alexf1man
8th August 2011, 8:59
Surely if they’re not going to use the hard tyre again this year, can’t they just have three slick compounds to choose from?
Super Soft, Soft, Medium
Or rename them to
Soft, Medium, Hard
—
Unlikely that anyone other than Vettel and Red Bull will win this year, but if Ferrari win I can see where you’re coming from.
Prisoner Monkeys (@prisoner-monkeys)
8th August 2011, 9:42
Except that the last time hard tyres were used was at Silverstone. For a team that doesn’t use the harder-compound tyres very well, Ferrari certainly used the harder-compound tyres really well …
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
8th August 2011, 9:54
Of course I’m not siding with the tinfoil hat brigade, but do remember Ferrari didn’t use hard tyres during the race (almost no-one did):
2011 British Grand Prix pit stops and tyres used
Prisoner Monkeys (@prisoner-monkeys)
8th August 2011, 9:47
The last time Pirelli offered the hard tyres was at Silverstone. A race Ferrari won. Even if Alonso’s victory was only a direct result of Red Bull’s pit error, it doesn’t change the fact that he was threatening them all weekend. Likewise, the traditional mis-season political furore – this year’s subject, off-throttle blown diffusers – and the subsequent changes made to the regulations have resulted in no discernable change in performance from Ferrari. Furthermore, Pirelli did not alter the composition of the hard tyres between Barcelona and Silverstone. In the six weeks between the Spanish and British Grands Prix, Ferrari clearly devloped their car enough to use the harder tyres more effectively. If anything, Pirelli’s decision to discontinue use of the harder compound robs them of a potential weapon in the 2011 title fight.
Butler_f1
8th August 2011, 10:08
Your argument about silverstone is nil and void by the fact the race was started on the inters which negates the rule to use both compounds and Alonso only ran on the soft tyres once he ditched the inters. He didn’t use the hard tyres once on race day.
antifia
9th August 2011, 13:17
That is what I remember too – they were lucky, not having to use the hard tyres because of the weather forcing everybody to start with the inters.
Fixy (@)
8th August 2011, 11:17
Very unlikely Ferrari will win one of the world titles, and medium tyres (ex-hards) will still be used.
damonsmedley (@damonsmedley)
8th August 2011, 18:11
It’s a shame, but I think you may be right. People can derive conspiracy theories out of anything in F1! I do hope we see a close fight for the championship, and if Ferrari wins, it’s not because of the tyres. Pirelli obviously weren’t proud of them and ditching them isn’t for Ferrari’s benefit over their own.
bananarama
8th August 2011, 0:17
More interesting than the Hamilton part (which we all knew anyway) is that they tell us already when they will stop working on this years car and that by then they will have enough updates in the pipeline until the end of the season. So from idea to product it takes Ferrari one and a half months. I wonder how that compares to other teams. Well, lets see how it goes.
Nice, another conspiracy idea .. Pirelli is italian and Ferrari too so they try to give them an advantage. Because its not like all teams moaned about that tyre equally. Sad for Marlboro for dropping off the name, they’d be mentioned a lot lately .. Ferrari is good value for a sponsor.
And before I forget it: I saw some footage of the Ferrari event and Alonso was going downhill on a bike. Seriously, I wouldn’t let my drivers do that. Sure not everyone is Webber but a small stone is enough and its off to the hospital. Do something less dangerous like .. “playing tennis”or driving in a rallye. Those things are much safer …….
Eggry (@eggry)
8th August 2011, 4:07
I’d like to watch that footage. Could you give me a link?
bananarama
8th August 2011, 8:55
I saw it in tv, RTL “news”, sorry.
I also love how people don’t even read my comments just because of my Ferrari avatar. :-P
Cornflakes (@cornflakes)
8th August 2011, 0:46
Another news thin day in F1! Don’t quite know what to do with my F1 free sundays.
donz
8th August 2011, 2:41
Agreed. Although I’m sure that tumbleweed blowing down the pitlane was speeding
Adrian J
8th August 2011, 10:21
Good practise for next year for some of us..!!
VXR
8th August 2011, 0:54
You only understand if you are a True Ferrari at how your team is always made to look bad.
Quite often without the help of outside assistance.
Shame really, coz Hamilton often went well on the hard tyre.
bosyber
8th August 2011, 9:35
Not entirely a Ferrari fan, but I see what you are saying. At least this time it isn’t the Horse Whisperer.
sato113
8th August 2011, 0:55
*dons tin foil hat*
sato113
8th August 2011, 0:59
why would domenicalli say such a thing about hamilton? after Alonso retires, he may well regret ruling out hamilton at this early stage.
Julian
8th August 2011, 4:00
How many times has a team principle backflipped on something they said only days/weeks/months later?
Whitmarsh and the Free to air stuff, Horner and team orders for some slightly relevant examples
Todfod (@todfod)
8th August 2011, 9:21
True. Heck.. even drivers go back on their word. Alonso never wanted to drive for Ferrari, and he had made that rather obvious in his renault days.
Journeyer (@journeyer)
8th August 2011, 4:20
Because I’m betting Hamilton is only #2 on his shopping list. He’s going after the kid who’s already said he wants to race a Ferrari – Sebastian Vettel.
ajokay (@)
8th August 2011, 8:08
I don’t understand why Ferrari think every driver in the world would want to drive for Ferrari. If I was a racing driver, I know I wouldn’t want to.
Lee
8th August 2011, 8:41
i very much doubt if you were a professional racing driver and thus involved in the sport where ferrari is one of, if not the most prestigious and long term successful brands in the sport you would turn down an approach to race for them.
Adrian J
8th August 2011, 10:24
Strange, as a fan I can’t stand Ferrari, but I would still kill for the chance to drive one!!
ajokay (@)
8th August 2011, 10:36
I think there are plenty of other sports cars out there that I’d rather drive.
BasCB (@bascb)
8th August 2011, 11:32
But he hardly told us he is not going to sign Hamilton, just that he thinks it highly unlikely the opportunity will even arise in reality
DaveW
8th August 2011, 17:56
Somehow Hamilton goes and says something diplomatic, and Domenicali throws it in his face by saying 1. Of course he wants to drive for Ferrari and 2. Not a chance. Not very classy or useful, especially as Hamilton is still quite young and quicker than at least one of his current guys.
Naren
10th August 2011, 18:16
Sorry i think he better than both Alonso and Massa remember his debut season in Mclaren He is definitely the fastest and most naturally talented may be not as mature as Alonso but defiantly FASTER….
F1Yankee (@f1yankee)
8th August 2011, 1:29
i guess i’m glad the hard tire is dropped. i’d like to see a soft-medium-hard scenario at every race, without tire change rules.
Mike
8th August 2011, 2:33
I’d like that as well. Fat chance though.
Icthyes (@icthyes)
8th August 2011, 8:49
Pirelli are mulling over the idea of bringing three compounds per race, which the teams only have to use two of.
BasCB (@bascb)
8th August 2011, 11:33
That would be a nice move to offer alternate strategy options!
Harvs (@harvs)
8th August 2011, 2:46
It sounds a lot like Pirelli are favoring Ferrari but i highly dought they are, It sounds like they are just trying to go back to their original philosophy on the tyres. The teams now know how to get more out of the tyres then Pirelli would want them too. So they are going to be using softer tyre compounds to keep the racing unpredictable.
dragon
8th August 2011, 3:40
The hard tyre was just a bad, slow tyre. In the interests of racing, I’m happy it’s gone.
Eggry (@eggry)
8th August 2011, 4:03
I suspect medium is old hard tyre…so they’d like to go back.
Adrian J
8th August 2011, 10:25
That is how I understood it was well. Remember they introduced a new, more durable “hard” tyre earlier this season at which point the old hard became the “medium”.
Adrian Morse
8th August 2011, 6:19
Dominicali: “We will stop developing the car from September, but we are not giving up on 2011.”
Kinda the same thing really. Although I understand that their development pipeline will last until October (http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/93657
AndrewTanner (@andrewtanner)
8th August 2011, 7:14
It’s pretty much a given they won’t win anything this year and no one expects Ferrari to do anything so Domenicali can get away with saying that.
BasCB (@bascb)
8th August 2011, 7:23
Who knows, this is F1 and he might be just lulling the others to sleep over their plans!
AndrewTanner (@andrewtanner)
8th August 2011, 8:16
Now that would be the comeback of all comebacks!
bosyber
8th August 2011, 9:37
LOL, practising their strategies with races and the radio communication being open to all?
breezyF
8th August 2011, 7:54
Gotta envy Ferrari for sticking to their guns regarding driver selection, unfortunately that is the reason they probably wont win a constructors soon
After spy gate and crash gate and MSC rigging qualy back in his day how can the possible collusion between Ferrari and Pirelli be completely ruled out. Italy takes the Ferrari team very seriously, if the team fails they discuss it in parliament for petes sake!! So is it absurd that the Italian gvt / mafia pulled some favours from Pirelli or threatened them or whatever and got the Hard tyre removed?? Is that really far fetched based on Italy’s history? I think not
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
8th August 2011, 12:44
I don’t think there’s anything remotely suspicious about the selections. As I said when the last allocations announced there’s nothing surprising about them, and it’s not as if any of Ferrari’s rivals are complaining.
damonsmedley (@damonsmedley)
8th August 2011, 18:13
Exactly.
David-A (@david-a)
8th August 2011, 23:03
1. Spygate = Mclaren cheating
2. Crashgate = Renault cheating
3. Qualifying was never rigged, unless qualifying with race fuel is what you consider “rigging”.
Bleu
8th August 2011, 8:16
As Pirelli doesn’t seem to have a gap between tyres that often, it was a bit of surprise but from the remaining races there aren’t that much circuits which are hard for tyres. Suzuka is the only circuit where I could have seen sensible to have hard tyres out of last five races, considering the tyre allocations have been announced until Singapore.
Prisoner Monkeys (@prisoner-monkeys)
8th August 2011, 9:49
Tell that to Jenson Button, who wanted to race for McLaren because of their history.
AdrianMorse
8th August 2011, 9:58
Yes, but he also wants to drive for Ferrari. I think he stated recently (after Canada?) that 1) he always wanted to drive for Williams, McLaren, and Ferrari, and that he had managed two of these teams so far, and 2) that he would love to take on Alonso at Ferrari.
beneboy (@beneboy)
8th August 2011, 12:11
Jenson Button:
“As a kid you are very excited about racing for the red team. There were three teams I always wanted to race for when I was growing up, Ferrari, McLaren and Williams. I’ve got to drive for two of them, which is great, which as an eight-year old kid I didn’t expect to do.”
http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2011/may/27/jenson-button-ferrari-formula-one
matt90 (@matt90)
8th August 2011, 14:56
Very interesting. Even if Ferrari were interested I doubt Button would do it as it would probably mean signing as second fiddle to Alonso.
Todfod (@todfod)
8th August 2011, 15:05
Yeah I do not think he will join Ferrari for that very reason. Its a shame, as I think Jenson is the best number 2 driver on the grid, and would definitely help Ferrari seal the constructors title.
antifia
9th August 2011, 13:20
I agree, he is the best number 2 in the grid…
bosyber (@bosyber)
8th August 2011, 9:55
Just found this Virgin CEO’s view on the Sky/BBC deal (autosport) nice to have someone say that fans will be the ones deciding if this is a good deal for them, not F1 or Sky. Of course, he makes clear why he has doubts: his team get less TV money, so is more dependant on sponsors, making them more dependant on the viewing figures.
BasCB (@bascb)
8th August 2011, 11:35
I think it was in the roundup yesterday or so!
Fully agree, that its nice to hear them say they doubt its a good idea “bringing in more fans”
Johnny 5
8th August 2011, 13:16
Let’s not overlook that other parts of the Virgin empire compete directly with Sky for viewer subscriptions. You can see why Graeme Lowdon would be cautious in welcoming a broadcaster who might find it advantageous to minimise the on-air exposure of the Virgin name and brand.
daykind (@)
8th August 2011, 13:40
Ooh good! 2nd in the championship beckons…
Rob
8th August 2011, 16:56
Oh, are Ferrari dropping Massa then?
maxthecat
8th August 2011, 17:40
All this Red for super soft, Yellow for soft, Silver for Hard etc etc is silly and confusing for newcomers. Just have a blank tyre and a red or yellow to signify the softest.
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
8th August 2011, 17:43
Completely disagree, the current system is fine. Otherwise the ‘soft’ tyre one weekend is the ‘hard’ tyre the next, which is confusing.
@HoHum (@hohum)
8th August 2011, 18:09
So they are not going to use the hard tyre again, is that the hard hard tyre or is it the softer hard tyre and which hard tyre was the new hard tyre was that the hard or the soft hard tyre that they are not going to use? Will the medium tyre be the new hard tyre or was the old hard tyre the new medium tyre? Phew, thank goodness we don’t have any problem recognising that the soft will be the hard compound and the supersoft will of course be the soft compound when we use those two .
dfketr
9th August 2011, 16:13
even if they did it to somehow support ferrari, it doesnt matter, the teams are all in the same position, all having to use tyres at tracks they have never used pirellis at. its a level playing field as far as im concerned. we have seen it isnt jsut the tyre compound, there are other variables like the track itself and temperatures.