Pirelli is open to revising its tyre allocations for later races in a bid to increase the number of pit stops.
F1’s official tyre supplier has been criticised after most drivers completed the Canadian Grand Prix making only a single pit stop despite the softest rubber compounds being used in Montreal. The soft and super-soft tyres will be used again for this weekend’s race in Austria.
“Obviously our aim is always to have between two and three stops at every race,” said motorsport director Paul Hembery, “so this is something that we will monitor carefully in future when it comes to nominations.”
“We do have the possibility to make some minor changes if required,” he added. “We’re only expecting a small time gap between the two compounds in Austria, so this opens up a number of different possibilities as to how to run the race strategy.”
However Hembery warned another one-stop race was possible this weekend. “The tyre strategy will depend on some extent to the weather,” he explained, “if it is warm we are more likely to see two stops, whereas if it’s cool the balance might shift towards a one-stopper.”
Pirelli is yet to announce which tyre compounds will be used for the races after Austria:
| Circuit | 2015 Option | 2015 Prime | 2014 Option | 2014 Prime |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Melbourne | Soft | Medium | Soft | Medium |
| Sepang | Medium | Hard | Medium | Hard |
| Shanghai | Soft | Medium | Soft | Medium |
| Bahrain | Soft | Medium | Soft | Medium |
| Catalunya | Medium | Hard | Medium | Hard |
| Monte-Carlo | Super-soft | Soft | Super Soft | Soft |
| Montreal | Super-soft | Soft | Super Soft | Soft |
| Red Bull Ring | Super-soft | Soft | Super Soft | Soft |
| Silverstone | Medium | Hard | ||
| Hockenheimring | Super Soft | Soft | ||
| Hungaroring | Soft | Medium | ||
| Spa-Francorchamps | Soft | Medium | ||
| Monza | Medium | Hard | ||
| Singapore | Super Soft | Soft | ||
| Suzuka | Medium | Hard | ||
| Sochi | Soft | Medium | ||
| Circuit of the Americas | Soft | Medium | ||
| Interlagos | Soft | Medium | ||
| Yas Marina | Super Soft | Soft |
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PorscheF1 (@xtwl)
15th June 2015, 10:47
The fact they have’t changed at least once in the opening round perhaps indicates their inability to learn…
Although I understand that if they get it wrong another flow of banter is expected. I think they should use the super soft more often in combination with the medium/hard. Let them wreck it in qualy and do a one/two stop come raceday. Make it so one could one stop if he is gentle but also let those who want to push be able to do so on a two stop. Asking the impossible, but one stopping should be exactly as fast as two stopping so we at least perhaps will have teams with different strategies depending on their guts.
Iosif (@afonic)
15th June 2015, 11:27
F1 needs to allow a bit more testing, this is idiotic. How are they supposed to know exactly how each compound will last, with so minimum testing of the tyres in real conditions? Teams were testing for a week at Le Mans and in Formula 1 the teams have “testing” drivers, that never really drive the real car!
The same goes for the engines, Honda’s struggles or Renault breaking down more often than not, are really bad for the sport, much more than the costs of a couple of more tests.
evered7 (@evered7)
15th June 2015, 11:27
A two compound gap between tires might help. Like it was in the Bridgestone years. Soft/Hard, SS/Med etc.
Akshat
15th June 2015, 15:24
Not criticizing Pirelli, but I also want a two compound gap between tyres. If I were Pirelli, my choices would be:
Aus-SS/Med
Mal-Soft/Hard
Chi-Soft/Med
Bah-SS/Med
Spa-Med/Hard
Mon-SS/Soft
Can-SS/Soft
Aut-SS/Med
GBR-Soft/Hard
(Ger-SS/Soft for Hockenheim)
Hun-SS/Med
Bel-Soft/Hard
Ita-Soft/Med
Sin-SS/Soft
Jap-Soft/Hard
Rus-SS/Soft
Usa-SS/Med
Mex-I don’t know, maybe Soft/Med
Bra-Soft/Hard
Abu-SS/Med
#ForzaJules
David (@wushumr2)
15th June 2015, 21:35
I THINK the problem with this is that too hard a compound and you pretty much never bring the tires up to temperature. I don’t know if that’s a normal vehicle dynamics thing or a quality of the Pirelli tires.
It’s absolutely true that more pitstops does not automatically equal better racing since then it just becomes a matter of traffic and who did the best in/out laps. But it would be more interesting to see if different strategies can come into play as a result of the different tires.
Would probably only work WITHOUT DRS though. Alonso vs Vitaly Petrov Abu Dhabi ’10 would have been no contest with DRS. Though even if he had made up two places and scored four more point than he did, I think Vettel still would have won the championship by virtue of his three 4th places vs Alonso’s two (fun-ish fact!)
Chris (@tophercheese21)
15th June 2015, 11:56
Omfg, more pitstops does not always equal better racing, in fact often it makes for far more boring races because drivers are just cruising around driving to a delta (not that they don’t do that now, but it’s even more exaggerated by softer tyres).
Spain 2013. Arguably the worst race in this new Pirelli era.
PorscheF1 (@xtwl)
15th June 2015, 18:32
@tophercheese21 How can you say that? Alonso making a magnificent three stop working pushing every lap whilst Webber made a two stopper work to move up the field. I agree more stops don’t make better races but some flexibility in the strategy is good for everyone.
Iestyn Davies (@fastiesty)
15th June 2015, 18:46
@xtwl I agree, a fantastic victory for strategy and smart application. Double overtake on the outside of T3!
@tophercheese21 I found it hilarious when Button once drove to a McLaren delta and then had so much tyre left at the end he did a lap seconds faster. Talk about shooting yourselves in the foot.. typical post-Mercedes McLaren!
Alec Glen (@alec-glen)
15th June 2015, 12:12
I think Alonso should ignore the condition of the tyres for a week and just drive the wheels off his McLaren Honda, if he has to make an extra pit stop or two so be it if he’s racing and enjoying himself again.
I do wonder how the strategists calculate how much faster a driver can go if they go for more stops as they must have hardly any data of drivers racing flat out quali-style laps in racing conditions.
Todfod (@todfod)
15th June 2015, 13:11
He’ll be racing the Manors by the end of the race. (Assuming the Honda Pu can last a race distance)
Alec Glen (@alec-glen)
15th June 2015, 16:21
My thoughts were that he’d either go through his 6 sets of tyres or have a mechanical failure before the end of the race, no points is no points either way.
Frans
15th June 2015, 12:23
With the current rule, it will always about 1 vs 2 stop or 2 vs 3 stop. What I want to see is 1 vs 3 stop, which can’t realistically happen with the current rule. Basically I wan’t to see a car using the hardest compound aiming for 1 stop (or even 0 stop!) vs someone pushing a lot using the softest compound aiming to do 3 stops. Obviously it wouldn’t be about tires only, but also fuel. I don’t know how the result would look like, but I think it will be more fun vs current tyre rule.
RogerA
15th June 2015, 12:39
They need to move away from this idea that F1 needs 2-3 pit stops or else everything is dull; After all In the past we had no pit stops at all & F1 certainly wasn’t been called dull back then.
Instead of restricting teams strategy by forced tyre degredation & forcing them all to do at least 1 stop because of the 2 compound rule they really need to free things up & give teams real options to do anything from no-stops on the hardest compounds to multiple stops on the softer of the range.
The primary focus in my point of view should be the racing thats happening on the racetrack, Thats where we get the real excitement of wheel to wheel racing & overtaking… Anything that detracts from that & moves the focus to strategy & pit-passing should be secondary.
It always seemed to me that the quality of racing in any class is better when pit stops are optional & not forced, F1 prior to 1994 for example but also if you look at categories like GP2, WSBR & this year DTM where 1 race features mandatory pit stops & the other does not & the race without stops is more often than not the better race of the 2 because all of the focus is on the racetrack & not in the pit lane.
MarkM
15th June 2015, 21:08
Here’s a novel idea, LET THE TEAMS DECIDE! make a tire that lasts the whole race if pushed, and made to pit if pushed really hard, that’s up to the teams and their strategy! why is this so difficult?
You make unstable fragile tires that drop off with no notice and you’ll get what we’re seeing now, no attacking and tire management. THAT IS BORING!
Look when schumacher raced at “think 2004 French GP” and he did 4 pits stop with all laps pretty much flying qualifiers, yet won the race! One of the best achievements I saw in modern racing by a team. That was team strategy, tires that lasted and could be pushed. Else that would not have been possible.
The more you try and control an outcome the farther from reality it becomes and the less exciting it is. We are witness this first hand these days.
falken (@falken)
18th June 2015, 8:01
No. If everyone has free choice, they’ll all figure out the (same) fastest combo and use that.
MiguelM
15th June 2015, 12:51
Increasing the number of pit stops to “improve races”. Enough said.
Stéphane
15th June 2015, 13:10
Just give them the four compounds and let them decide which one they want to use.
Give them a limit of 10 sets for the week-end.
Simple, clear, easy to follow
Clive Allen (@clive-allen)
15th June 2015, 13:17
And Pirelli want more pit stops why? Who on earth came up with the idea that pit stops are an important component of a race? When did the tyre supplier become the arbiter of what matters in the sport? Everyone except the FIA wants to control the sport and they all seem to think the idea is to provide entertainment. It isn’t. Its a sport intended to allow the best drivers and constructors to compete. Whether it is entertaining to watch is entirely irrelevant – it’s the race that is the point.
Tyres should be rubber bits that last the whole race and nobody ever thinks about. Just like alternators, injectors, batteries and other bolt-on bits.
MarkM
15th June 2015, 21:00
we’ll said, with you 100%
@HoHum (@hohum)
16th June 2015, 2:11
Me too,
Strontium (@strontium)
15th June 2015, 15:41
Just realised that all of the tyre choices last year were compounds right next to each other, which I find quite boring. Why not have gap between some of them.
Atticus (@atticus-2)
15th June 2015, 16:26
Pirelli admittedly tried to increase the performance gap between the tyres before 2014 (most likely to be able to bring two compounds next to each other to most of the races, perhaps for simplicity and ‘followability’), but they’ve failed spectacularly.
dex022 (@dex022)
15th June 2015, 16:18
Just remove idiotic both compound use in race rule for start and we will see variations in strategy….
2face
15th June 2015, 18:00
I can barely contain my excitement……not.
MarkM
15th June 2015, 20:58
after watching LeMans and seeing how they were on full throttle all the way through every stint and never worried about the tires I really feel quiet angry over how F1 makes its decision to “liven up the show”. Let me tellyou, its doing quite the opposite for me!!!
mark p
15th June 2015, 22:38
With testing you can make tyres just right foe a circuit but as every circuit differs slightly in some cases and to a large extent in others you cannot make a tyre for every round. Using tyres to improve the show will work great on some tracks but be awful on others and the weather can play havoc with this delicate equation. Just make the tyres last a whole race roughly for low tyre wear tracks then they may have to stop once or twice on harder tracks. They can make a tyre that has a huge operating range and maybe cheaper. F1 fans do not need colour stripes on tyres just black will do and one type. Tyres just add another variable until there are so many variables, many artificial no one kniws what works or not. Le Mans had soft and hard tyres in LMP1 and they all ran hard tyre all race.
1 tyre for everywhere.
Gigantor (@kbdavies)
16th June 2015, 1:01
Here we go again. More tinkering and fiddling. God! What is wrong with these people? Why does a race have to have “2-3 stops”? Why??
@HoHum (@hohum)
16th June 2015, 2:13
Best change Pirelli can make to improve F1 is to leave.
encore
16th June 2015, 3:46
I don’t know if this has been said before but I would like it to become OK to mix the tyres on the F1 cars during practice and the race. There may be a few 10th’s there with say, the softs on the front and the other tyre on the rear. Maybe if the car is being tough on the l/f on a clockwise circuit, one could fit a hard on that corner to make it last. There’s no safety issue here and it offers the opportunity to be inventive in their choices, stopping as required to keep the car on the best configuration which we know changes during any race; it might make more pit stops necessary.
Asanator (@asanator)
16th June 2015, 15:32
Damned if you do, Damned if you don’t!