Pirelli criticise “ludicrous” wait for 2014 tyre decision

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In the round-up: Pirelli motorrsport director Paul Hembery says Formula One is leaving it too late to decide on a tyre supplier for 2014.

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Your daily digest of F1 news, views, features and more.

Frustrated Pirelli still awaiting 2014 deal (Adam Cooper’s F1 Blog)

“Apparently on the first of September we’re supposed to tell them everything that they need to know for the tyres for next season. We’re now mid-May, so you can imagine how ludicrous that is when we haven’t even got contracts in place. Maybe we won’t be here, anyway.”

Raikkonen: Lotus can match Mercedes (Autosport)

“We have to see how it is in the morning. If it’s like this morning then it’s going to be a disaster. But we improved a lot and it’s getting better and better all the time.”

Ecclestone warns about 2014 engine costs (Reuters)

“Ecclestone will meet Renault chief executive Carlos Ghosn at the season’s showcase race this weekend and the cost of the engines is likely to be discussed.”

Hamilton: I have good chance of win (BBC)

“I’m not the quickest; Nico is. But it’s not looking bad at the moment.”

FIA Thursday press conference – Monaco (F1)

“Yeah, we’ve echoed the safety issues and said that whatever needs to be done on safety grounds is obviously fine with us, we’re not going to go against that. As far as the tyres being marginal goes, we’ve found them to be quite consistent. But then again – different cars, different drivers, different styles… they work for us. So we’re actually quite happy with the way they are.”

F1 stars spin the truth on Monaco (The Telegraph)

“It took bluff Austrian Gerhard Berger, however grudgingly, to acknowledge the truth: ‘Nice boats, nice buildings, lots of friends. And now the honest answer? Tax.’ Yes, if you happen to be an F1 aristocrat with even a fraction of Button’s £58 million fortune, Monaco is almost de?óÔé¼ÔÇ?rigueur as a nesting site.”

Analysis: DRS Activation (ScarbsF1)

“Ferrari have adopted the pull type system and the failure for Alonso in Bahrain, it appears that the mechanical ‘stop’ in the system failed, this allowed the wing to go over centre and with the air pressure now underneath the wing prevented the wing flipping shut. This isn’t a fault of the pull system specifically, rather than a mechanical failure of part of the system. In normal use it shouldn’t be possible for the wing to go over-centre, so when it did this for the Ferrari it subsequently over-stressed and broke the actuator mounting, such that DRS could not be used through tout the race.”

Monaco Grand Prix Betting: Qualifying question crucial to betting (Unibet)

My look ahead to the Monaco Grand Prix for Unibet.

Tweets

https://twitter.com/redbullf1spy/status/337600301085376512

Comment of the day

Lots of love for Jean-Eric Vergne’s new helmet, which is styled on Francois Cevert’s:

Possibly one of the nicest helmet designs i have seen in the last five to ten years. Great to see the current crop paying tribute to some of the legends of the sport.
Patrick Delee (@Padelee)

From the forum

Happy birthday!

Happy birthday to Pete Walker, Driftin and Mallesh Magdum!

If you want a birthday shout-out tell us when yours is by emailling me, using Twitter or adding to the list here.

On this day in F1

Happy 50th birthday to Ivan Capelli. He was the last Italian driver to start a season for Ferrari, in 1992, but he was dropped shortly before the end of a dreadful season for him and the team.

Capelli came to prominence with a series of impressive drives for Leyton House, including this near-win at Paul Ricard in 1990:

Image © Pirelli/LAT

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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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99 comments on “Pirelli criticise “ludicrous” wait for 2014 tyre decision”

  1. I get the feeling it’s times up for Pirelli, their patience has run out. They are frustrated with FIA, frustrated with the teams, they are the target of all criticism, when they could be doing rock hard and fast tyres if they were asked that, but are trying their best to put variables into the game.

    This isn’t doing them a favour. FIA needs to cut the cr.. and respond to the teams themselves, defending Pirelli. Because it puts future deals at risk: who would sign a contract with F1 only to be the beginning and end of all discussions and criticism? or they’d mess it up again, and we’d get the good old Bridgestones but with another brand, maybe.

    1. If anyone should decide if Pirelli are to continue next years, it should be Pirelli, they did exactly what FIA and FOM requested and should not be criticized at all, except MAYBE for dropping the ball with those delaminations

      1. Well, they did a pretty decent job in 2011. They had a good thing going, with most people praising them…

        … and then they decided to fix it.

        Their tyres got more and more extreme, and here they are today, under heavy criticism. Whose fault is that, exactly? I’m not surprised they are getting frustrated with F1, but the bad press they’re getting is at least partially their own responsibility.

        1. i do not know if this is true, as each year the teams have the date of the tyres by about september to build their car the next year, so the teams can be blames also. i think the problem is more the first few races of the year are all so different in tyre wear, so it makes pirelli look artificially bad, i doubt we will have a repeat of barcelona from now.

      2. Completely agree. I think its easy to forget how good the races have been since they’ve been in the sport.. and huge amount of credit is due to them.
        Short term memory seems to be the trend these days, and since drivers are only as good as their last race… apparently so are tyre manufacturers

      3. Agreed, great comment

    2. Well if Pirelli had shown some balls and integrity they would have refused to make arbitrary **** tires and insisted on showing what premium tires can do instead. Like Bridgestone did when they left due to lack of road relevance.

      Good riddance to them, as a private little vendetta I will certainly never buy pirellis (that an the fact that I want my tires to last as long as possible :) )

      1. @tvm They only made what the FIA asked them to make. Going against the FIA would have most certainly ended their days as an f1 tyre manufacturer

        1. @force-maikel
          Maybe it would have yes, thats what integrity is about, standing by your beliefs even when it costs you instead of prostituting yourself.

          Or do you think that Pirelli really think that making sub standard tires that does not last is a good development, something they would strive to implement on their road tires?

          1. @tvm then why don’t they stop? They want a renewal for 2014, that doesn’t sound like a manufacturers that isn’t happy about its products.

    3. I concur. Pirelli has done a pretty good job overall for what they have been asked to do. Not making a decision on a tire supplier sooner rather than later certainly has the potential to make any future tire situations much worse than anything that is happening now. After all the guff that has been dumped on Pirelli this season so far, what tire manufacturer would like to step into the maelstrom next. And, at the last minute too.

      1. Nick.UK (@)
        24th May 2013, 0:55

        I’m fairly bored with the whole tyre situation at the moment. I’m just about sick of hearing about it. Good news, bad news, from the teams I hate to the teams I love. I wish everyone would just shut up already. Part of me really hopes Pirelli leave it to the last minute to potentially back out at the end of this year; just so I can watch the sport squirm when it finds itself in a situation with no tyres. Maybe then they’d all be a bit more grateful.

        1. Haha, my thoughts exactly. :)

      2. If it was a case of Pirelli doing exactly what they were asked then I’d agree the level of criticism seen recently would be wrong, However they have not done exactly what they were asked to do, They have gone a lot more extreme than what they were actually asked to do.

        What they did with the 2011 tyres was pretty much what they were asked to do & thats why you didn’t hear many complaints in 2011. In 2012 they went a step more extreme & you began to hear some criticism & for 2013 they have gone a few steps extreme again & your hearing a lot more criticism.

        Pirelli & there supporters always go on about Red Bull been the only team whining, However in reality most of the teams are unhappy with the direction Pirelli have gone, Only reason you don’t hear about it is because they don’t do it in public.

        In 2011 Pirelli getting the extension was virtually guaranteed & in fact as recently as January it was a virtually a done deal. Its the 2013 tyres & the way Paul Hembrey has responded to the criticism by going on about making tyres to allow Red Bull to win & all that which has put it on hold.

        1. However they have not done exactly what they were asked to do, They have gone a lot more extreme than what they were actually asked to do.

          And how the hell are they to do “exactly” what they were asked for when most of the teams are voting against in-season testing, over and over again? Then, those same teams are protesting about Pirelli using 3 years old Lotus car. And then they are wondering, how come those tires don’t suit their own car.

          It’s madness of epic proportions that there are people in F1 who are wondering why tires aren’t perfectly suited for their car, when they were developed using a 3 years old car, from a completely different manufacturer, made to a completely different set of rules.

          There needs to be in-season testing and in decent amounts. The way it is now is just insane.

          1. So true. The in season testing just voted down again recently, btw. I’m beginning to wonder why any tire manufacturer would want to join this circus. It doesn’t have to be this way.

          2. I don’t know…I’m all for more testing, no question, but then it’s not my wallet. I would have thought the teams would be quite ‘on’ Pirelli, quite involved in a cooperative manner in sussing out how they achieved the data on their tires, at the time Pirelli presents the coming year’s specs. ie. I would have thought everyone was on pretty much the same page, and must have been relatively satisfied with enough viable data that allowed them to design their 2013 chassis, some obviously better than others, so I don’t know that they can fall back on the lack of testing argument. There was no more testing last year than the previous, and last year the tires were less the issue. We all know they can make better tires, they just put their foot in it too deep with these tires and it’s hard to go back without upsetting the applecart at this stage.

            I’m lost now…will the tires be changed by Canada? Or has it been decided that without concensus from the teams they will not be changed at all? Or are we waiting to hear a decision as to whether it is a safety issue?

            Obviously Pirelli can do better, they’ve just gone too far, hauling it back changes things for the teams, but change they must, no? Can tires keep delaminating all season? Michelin couldn’t get away with their issue because of one turn at one track. At a time of more testing. But at a track in the U.S.

            Also, if a new maker is to come in, they won’t have a lot of time to give the teams their specs…although Michelin probably wouldn’t need much time. I think it is safe to say the next set of tires to come whether they be from Pirelli or someone else, won’t be this iffy. And surely they can come up with better ways to keep the processions down after they get back to more sensible tires. Perhaps the engine/chassis change starting next year will be enough to shake things up for a bit, but ultimately they should have tires that allow us to see them pushing, while not be so dependant on aero that dirty air causes processions. There MUST be a miriad of ways they can invite exciting racing without gadgets taking over the show and making the drivers passengers and monitors.

          3. In-season testing isn’t the answer.

            It’s important to bear in mind that the complaints are not coming from teams who simply cannot make the tyres work under any conditions. As Ferrari demonstrated in Barcelona, the teams can learn everything they need to know about the tyres in the four hours of free practice that they get over the weekend.

            No, the complaints are coming from teams who want to reclaim their advantage over the field. They are the teams who believe that they have a good car, and that they are entitled to better results simply because they have had those better results in recent years. They like the balance of power the way it was because it had them on top of the podium on a regular basis, and they naturally want everything to go back to the way it was.

            In-season testing wou;dn’t do any good, because aside from the teams having turned the idea down because it was not feasbile, the teams who are currenty complaining would still be complaining, even if they had all the time in the world to learn about the tyres. Because so long as other teams are getting mroe out of them than they are, they will want to rob those other teams of their advantage.

          4. In season testing isnt the answer – an answer is not needed, everything is fine as it is. the teams just need to get used to the fact there is no in-season testing and adjust to the tyres as soon as they can – they did so last year (a bit late most of them) and they will now. they are just complaining because that is a “free” way of possibly causing change for the better of their car’s performance instead of having to build a better better car to the stipulations of the 2013 season which were set all the way back in September 2012, teams like Mercedes and Redbull failed to build a good car to work with the tyres they were given, so bad luck for them, them and their fans can complain all they want and use all their motorsport psychological speak they want about how “racing should be” but the fact remains these are 500 million dollar teams and millionaire drivers, and they need to get over themselves and get on with the job.

        2. Don’t skew the situation, When we had that exciting Canadian race people loved it. Pirrellii was asked to replicate that, by the end of 2011, teams were once again completing the races with one stop.

          Since Pirelli was asked to create 2-3 stops, what do you want them to do?
          The same happened again in 2012, the teams got on top of the tyres, so they made them less durable again, so that we’d get 2-3 stops a race.

          Barcelona had 4 stops, it had this the other years as well, it’s rough on tyres.

          1. Since Pirelli was asked to create 2-3 stops, what do you want them to do?

            Thats not actually what they were asked to do.

            There were simply asked to have a hard compound at each race that could not go further than half race distance & a soft compound at each race that could not do more than 25-30% race distance with about 8 tenth difference between the 2 compounds.

            I gather they were also told specifically that the teams did not want the tyres to become the talking point & did not want tyre management to become too big a factor because it was felt that would detract too much from the racing.

            The biggest problem many inside F1 have with the 2013 tyres is that its felt they have become everything the teams didn’t want them to. There now too marginal, The biggest talking point & tyre management is now the biggest factor every weekend & is detracting from the racing.

            Pirelli talk about the lack of testing, Yet there allowed to have test tyres on Friday’s during race weekends & very rarely make use of that option. Using that option more often would give them a ton more data on where to take the tyres than what there getting & been on circuits F1 races on under F1 race weekend conditions (Al teams/drivers running + support categories) the data would almost certainly be more useful.

          2. There were simply asked to have a hard compound at each race that could not go further than half race distance & a soft compound at each race that could not do more than 25-30% race distance with about 8 tenth difference between the 2 compounds.

            That rather oversimplifies their brief, doesn’t it? They weren’t asked to create two compounds for each track, they had to create four compounds for the whole season from which two would be picked for each track. That’s not the same thing.

            When you consider the range of circuits and potential weather conditions that involves it’s rather more complicated than you’re making it out to be. Add to that the fact that teams build up information about tyres as the season goes on and learn how to manage them better and I think it’s understandable that Pirelli have at times produced tyres that were too aggressive or too conservative.

      3. I doubt FOM and FIA asked for delaminating tyres. That should be an error, happens to everyone.

    4. Or certain people do not want Pirreli any more and try to force them out :)

  2. It’s also my birthday today ^_^

    1. Nick.UK (@)
      24th May 2013, 0:43

      Happy Birthday :)

    2. @kimihakkinen Happy Birthday!!!! :)

    3. Traverse (@)
      24th May 2013, 3:40

      Merry Christmas :P

    4. @kimihakkinen Happy birthday. Enjoy!

    5. Melchior (@)
      24th May 2013, 8:44

      Happy Mothers day Matey;);)

  3. What I’ve read from the DRS arcticle has just heightened my bewilderment at why Ferrari failed to tell Alonso not to re-use DRS.

    1. Yeah, because it’s less likely to find out what went wrong AFTER the race.

    2. Do you criticise ferrari in every comments section on purpose? Are you aware of how hard it is to take anything you say seriously, when you show so much bias? Just curious, we all have our favourite drivers/teams, but some of us try to look at the bigger picture, instead of constantly bagging teams/drivers we dislike, and constantly defending and praising our favourites at every opportunity.

      1. @fangio85 I think you’ve taken far too harshly to something which is pretty much the general consensus and is of course topical, as it was mentioned in the ScarbsF1 article (which if you wish to read explains the fault and then perhaps you can see my comment wasn’t exactly unjust).

        Pff, to me it looked pretty clear what was wrong – it was stuck open and failing to close and I actually do recall saying “he won’t be able to use it again then”! Maybe Ferrari should just employ me for pit-stop repairs… ;)

    3. Who knows what they were thinking, when I saw them struggle to get the wing back down in the pits, I thought great, its stuffed, forget using it again, or if you want to risk it, wait till the next pit stop window and see what happens. I’m no mechanic or engineer, but it seemed logical, and then look what happened. You really wonder what on earth they are thinking sometimes…..

      On another note, my avatar has disappeared?

      1. OmarR-Pepper (@)
        24th May 2013, 1:24

        @ivz the same I told yesterday, if you have a Gravatar account, you can use the photo you uploaded there (you choose the same mail you used here to create your F1F account). It’s very easy. That’s how I got Kimbastian back.

      2. @ivz that’s exactly what I thought!

        On another note though, the article is actually very interesting to see how the different actuator systems have developed: worth checking out!

    4. Actually Fernando said in an interview that it was the team’s idea to try to use it again (believing the problem was solved), he also said it was hard to resist pressing the drs every time he was chasing someone.

    5. Chris (@tophercheese21)
      24th May 2013, 5:58

      I thought they might have been thinking that if they put it back, it might work properly again.

      But it didnt. So they had to pit twice.
      Unlucky, but they kinda had to do it to know for sure that it was gonna break each time he opened it.

      1. @tophercheese21 was it worth the risk though? It could’ve been a potentially race-ending failure (as happened to Schumacher in Canada) so I wouldn’t have taken the risk personally, since the tyres still make overtaking possible.

        @mantresx I wasn’t aware of the details of the situation but I kind of hinted that the blame was on Ferrari with “why Ferrari failed to tell Alonso not to re-use DRS.” Thanks for the clarification anyway though!

        1. Chris (@tophercheese21)
          24th May 2013, 11:41

          @vettel1

          I believe that yes, it was worth the risk. Because if they had pitted him, and fixed it, and then he could have potentially done a few places better in the race.

          But they had to know for sure, and it didn’t work out.

          1. @tophercheese21 id have then taken @ivz‘s idea and opened it during the next pit window. Although personally I thought they bashed it back in place – were they really expecting it to work?!

          2. I don’t think it was worth the risk. If they hadn’t tried it again until just before their next pitstop, it would have only slightly impacted Alonso’s ability to make up positions rather than cost them an additional 20 seconds or so.

  4. OmarR-Pepper (@)
    24th May 2013, 0:25

    So it looks like FIA is just letting the storm go as far as it goes by itself, and then just close the door on Pirelli’s face. Why to botter on calming down Red Bull, or Mercedes (who certainly are not complaining so much) if the contract ends up this year? I know part of the problem is not Pirellis fault (they were asked for degradable rubber, they made so-much degradable rubber, that’s the real problem), but if FIA is thinking on changing supplier, so be it. they will wash their hands and make Pirelli look as the only ones to be blamed. BTW, are there any rumors of the possible suppliers if Pirelli leaves?.

    1. Thats just it though. Surely other tyre manufacturers will be unwilling to come in if they know that they could be made to look like fools if there’s anything people don’t like about the new tyres.

      If anybody does I can see bridgestone style tyres that last a whole race just to make sure they at least don’t damage their reputation too badly.

      1. Except your missing the point that the FIA give the tyre manufacturer specifications to make their tyres and one of the very clear specification is that they want two stop races. Also the teams have to use two different compounds during the race. So one stop is a minimum. In which case with the example above teams would run their tyres right to the end and do a quick stop in the last few laps (assuming there is no drop off in performance).

        Pirelli can make tyres that last a whole race just like Bridgestone and Michellin. But they have been mandated to make tyres that wear out.

        To me the ideal tyre can be run hard for 20 laps then drop off quickly. The problem is that the team are too clever and workout in the second half of the season how to make them last longer.

        1. Did that actually happen? Barely 8 months ago all we were talking about was how Pirelli started to bring harder tires to races and how the more conservative tire choice was benefiting Red Bull. What we got was, indeed, a RBR championship but an amazing end to the season all thanks to harder tires which held up, but didn’t give the maximum grip levels.

          The teams might have figured the tires out a bit, but honestly, they just weren’t being asked to bomb around on the S/Ss tires.

          Personally, I’d love to watch Monaco with tire choices of Hard / Medium. Or just Hard (they’d never need to stop), but from a safety perspective no one would want to go out on a track.

          1. @hwkii about 2012, you’ve hit the nail on the head. The teams had pretty much maximised the potential of the tyres and we actually got rather good racing (with the exception of Korea, India and Japan). Why they didn’t just continue with those tyres confused me (if necessary, they could have just gone one step softer than the previous year to bring up the pit stops i.e. SS & S in Australia if necessary).

            At least then there’d be no excuses from the teams, as they had plenty data on all the tyres which they could’ve used to build the cars!

    2. are there any rumors of the possible suppliers if Pirelli leaves

      Michelin, They wanted the deal in 2010 & still want it now.

      Michelin would have got the deal in 2010 had they not pushed 18″ rims & low profile tyres. The teams hated the idea because of the aerodynamic effect the bigger rims would have on the cars.

      I gather Michelin was the FIA’s choice in 2010 but FOTA along with Bernie pushed hard for Pirelli & been fairly new in the role & not wanting a confrontation Jean Todt decided to go with Bernie & the teams.

      1. Aditya (@adityafakhri)
        24th May 2013, 2:56

        Michelin also wanted competition on tyres…

        1. And Pirelli are the baby brother in a company of adults in form of Good Year, Michelin and Bridgestone. They would have been wiped in a competition scenario.

      2. But is Michelin really interested if there is not going to be tyre competition – and its certain that is not going to happen.

        I read several people reporting that Hankook is now interested, after having gathered DTM experience for the last 3 years.

      3. GT racer, I seriously doubt that aero considerations scuppered the 18″ rims, more likely it was the lack of shock absorbsion by the lower profile tyre that would have required a complete re-design and strengthening of the suspension.

        1. Thats very likely the biggest part of it @hohum, although the changes they would have to make with the complete suspension setup etc, would also mean different aero design, the mechanical work would be pretty much a completely overhaul of the cars

  5. I was wondering if it’s possible to make a tyre that performs best when driven on the limit. If you drive slower it degrades more (and you go slower) and if you wanted to make the tyre last, at expense of lap time, you’d have to work the tyres extra hard by understeering and oversteering.

    Wouldn’t that make for more exciting racing? Pirelli make a tyre like that if you can actually produce tyres the fans want

    1. That would make for excellent racing … right up to the first hairpin bend.

    2. Problem is if a team make a car that is difficult to reach “the limit” then they will go backward even more. So you’d end up with a few cars that can go super fast and the rest being lapped and wearing out their tyres. How exciting!

      The tyres need to work for every team, but that too is pretty much impossible.

      1. Surely the limit is simply the limit of grip, and every car can reach that. Some cars will have more grip but it simply pushes the limit up for them and so they would be able to go quicker and driver skill would play a bigger part so they’d need to drive at 100%

      2. The harder the tyre the broader is the operating range so the difference will be less critical allowing the best balanced and driven car to corner the best.

    3. I think that’s in a way how it’s currently and has always been: if tyres aren’t up to temperature cars will slide around destroying them quickly.

      They obviously have to design the tyres this way because F1 cars tend to go around pretty fast and the tyres need to work at those speeds.

    4. What about the aero aspect? If the tires are very hard to activate it will be 100% about maximum down force again – only this time the best aero designer will have a double advantage.

  6. Reading the FIA press conference transcript, good news to y’all…

    *drumroll*

    Paul Hembery:

    There’s going to be enough going on for the teams next year as you just heard from Franz, all those changes. So I think it’s a year where we’ll be stepping back: zero degradation, no pit stops and they can do all the talking.

    1. +1 good news indeed!

    2. @tmekt
      that’s music to my ears, it’s great news indeed, i hope Pirelli – if they get a new contract – will stick to that!
      thanks for pointing that out.

    3. YES,YES,YES, that’s what I’m talking about baby!!!

  7. Meetings amongst the high brass at Pirelli must be interesting these days. They seem to be immersed in a no-win situation, and I wouldn’t be surprised if they decided to bow out.

    1. I agree. Pirelli’s marketing strategists must be close to suicide by now as the only message that the public has received from all this is “Pirelli tyres wear out!”.

      1. The minute they stop benefiting from being in the sport, they stop being in the sport because that’s why they are there. They are almost certainly reviewing the marketing situation on a very regular basis and know exactly what it is at any given moment.

  8. Regarding the engines for 2014, what is up with Bernie? Isn’t it far to late for the manufacturers to decide they aren’t going to do it? Aren’t they all familiar with the risks involved in designing a new mill? Hasn’t the sport been here before, and everything went fine. I’m sick of Bernie, and his shenanigans. He is detracting from the 2013 show, and trying to inject drama in 2014, where there will already be enough to go around. And while you’ve got me going, does any body else long for the days when grenading engines and gear boxes, failed hydraulics, and electrical gremlins were the variables that each team had to deal with, in their own way, because they made them. We’ve standardized everything, and forced teams to make everythng so robust that we’ve taken the edge out of the sport, and then we put it back in by making tires out of cheese wiz. Qualifying engines running at 110 %, secret fuel mixtures, race engines tuned for absolutely everything they will put out, qualifying tires even. This made qualifying a separate show, then you had the race. I say to hell with parc ferme, and let the engineers work their magic to success or failure.
    By the way Bernie, put sock in it!

    1. Abdurahman (@)
      24th May 2013, 4:22

      Fantastic rant! And I mean rant in a good way!

    2. Well, thats the sustainable business for you. And the issue is that every singe stake holder will push for such strategy, unless they are the winning team. There is not much Bernie can do any more after he was forced to give up so much control of F1 few years back. Now it democracy, and you don’t have too look far to see how and what kind of clowns running governments attracts. Brace yourself, as soon as teams received a voting power in determining a future of F1 this was the beginning of the end, they all will be pulling to their side until the moment their very existence is at stake. That can be a long time as example of US Federal Reserve shows :D

    3. You hit the nail on the head!

    4. +1, also; Team budget $400 million, extra engine cost (maybe) for 2014 $20 million = 5%, FOM fees $750 million, all the financial problems F1 has are caused by the massive revenue lost to the teams , paid to CVC.

    5. I think Bernie is trying to detract attention from his upcoming bribery case in Germany…..

  9. I was wondering, of the current drivers, who doesn’t live in either Monaco or Switzerland? I know Alonso lives in Spain but there must be more surely.

    1. Mark Webber at least used to live in the UK. I did wonder why.

      1. Still does doesnt he? And Im sure Massa stays back in Brazil.

  10. FIA and teams should silence tyre controversy. This is even worse than designed-to-be-degraded tyre. Even if they kicks out Pirelli, that’s just beginning of nightmare. Who else would do the role if they know they would be only punished because of what they did as requested.

    1. Aditya (@adityafakhri)
      24th May 2013, 3:29

      exactly. if anything, FIA should realize and back to balance. I personally think 2012 was the limit. there is no one like Pirelli who do what they’re told to do.

    2. I read that in Hakkinens voice for some reason.

  11. @keithcollantine

    The last Italian to start for Ferrari was Luca Badoer at Belgium 2009. And before that was Nicola Larini in San Marino 1994.

    1. @keithcollantine

      Oops, The last Italian to start for Ferrari was Giancarlo Fisichella at Abu Dhabi 2009!

      1. Never mind, I’m tired, it’s late here. Totally missed you clearly stated last Italian to start a season with Ferrari. My Apologies. :(

  12. Abdurahman (@)
    24th May 2013, 2:59

    I miss the Michelin Man :) ()()()()

  13. Abdurahman (@)
    24th May 2013, 3:03

    I don’t see why F1 could not go back to having multiple suppliers.
    The golden age of 500cc Grand Prix motorcycles featured the Dunlop vs. Michelin battle, the Dunlop was known for it’s ability to slide smoothly, the Michelin was ultra grippy but had a knife edge, it all added to the drama and technique of the riders.

    1. I know, I’ve always enjoyed tyre competitions, and watching different tyres compete among each other.

      I remember that a part of the reason to why the 2003 Brazilian GP was so great was because of how different the Bridgestone and Michelin tyres reacted to the rain. Michelin were really good in heavy rain, but burned through the tyres on a moist track. Whereas the Bridgestone cars couldn’t get any heat in the wet tyres in heavy rain, but excelled on a drying track. So in the first part of the race, the Michelin cars drove ahead and away, and in the 2nd part of the race, the Bridgestone cars came back strong. That’s what made the race so entertaining, different tyres reacting to different racing.

      1. I remember that a part of the reason to why the 2003 Brazilian GP was so great was because of how different the Bridgestone and Michelin tyres reacted to the rain.

        Its funny you mentioned that race, as it was one of the races that got me tired of having 2 different tyre manufacturers. For me, it ruined the race when different tyre characteristics were dictating the driver’s pace instead of the drivers themselves.

        I think it all depends on how we view utopian f1. I would like there to be very little difference in each of the cars (similar to GP2)… they should all have the same tyres and similar performance from engines. What really matters then are the drivers, pit crew and the efficiency of the engineers in setting up the car just right.

      2. @kingshark I think it’s a fairly terrible idea: they cost far too much, they ruin the competition in most instances and the number one teams for each manufacturer will have essentially tailor-made tyres. It’s exactly what we don’t need for close competition and reduced costs.

    2. @abdurahman Hembery gave a pretty good explanation a while ago of why having a tyre war doesn’t appeal to them or the teams.

    3. Personally, I am against multiple tyre suppliers. They effect the chassis so much, that they are integral to it. Putting on the wrong tyre winds up equating to building a bad chassis, even if you built the fastest chassis. Tyres must remain equal, or else you have no clue who built the best car.

      1. I would not mind multiple tyre suppliers as long as all tyres were available to all teams.
        However, since tyres are designed and built, not by the teams, but by an outside supplier I believe they should be equal for all and the least critical component on the car.

  14. I would like to wish a very happy birthday to @MalleshMagdum , my Indian friend from Belgaum, Karnataka! Have a wonderful day, bro!

    1. @girts thx bro. Nice to see u remember our difficult city names :)

    2. I add my birthday wishes to you as well vmasseshmagdum!

  15. Since everybody has an opinion one way or the other about these tyres, I came across a very interesting article on a Greek website by a former Ferrari engineer. I strongly suggest you read it.
    http://www.gocar.gr/races/f1/10001,Unseen_part_%E2%80%A6_the_windtunnel_tyres.html
    Remember Google translate is your friend

    1. Uh, that article is in English, why would I need to translate it @gdon?

      But you are certainly right that its a very relevant article to the discussion. When its so hard to get these windtunnel tyres right, I think that points a lot to where Sauber, Williams and McLaren went wrong. And it highlights how little time there is now for a tyre manufacturer to supply tyres to the teams to be used with next years car development.

  16. WilliamB (@william-brierty)
    24th May 2013, 9:34

    Nice to hear Hamilton gracious in defeat, and not the spoilt brat we sometimes hear. However, he has reason to be optimistic, as he was also slower than Rosberg on Friday in China, but humiliated him in qualifying. I just get the sense that he’s got his approach to this weekend spot on, as he wasn’t really pushing yesterday, especially in the heavy braking zones after his early lock-up, and just spent yesterday getting his eye in ready to fire on all cylinders tomorrow. His gap to Rosberg in FP2 was 0.3, which is much too large a gap to any approaching a representative gap based on raw driver performance. I think Vettel adopted a similar approach to Hamilton, but from where I’ve been sat, the Red Bull is not working at Monaco, with the rear end kicking out violently over the bumps and the curbs of the swimming pool, although that’s not exactly an insurmountable issue. Ferrari look good, as did Grosjean and the Lotus…until he crashed. However, the biggest surprise of practice was the Mercedes race pace. It was by no means spectacular, but there was really no real issues, and absolutely no reason to suspect that the Ferraris, Lotuses and Red Bull will be mounting the rear wings on the Mercedes on Sunday.

    That was your practice report from William “Ted-Kravitz’s-even-sadder-cousin” Brierty

    1. wow, you’re in Monaco? Nice.

      Thanks for the update

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