F1 Fanatic

I know that, on this and other blogs, one of hottest topics of debate has been DRS and what it has done / is doing to racing. Passing is artificial, made too easy, DRS taking away the fun of real battles. Well, I have a less negative (but not all positive) opinion on that.
What really bugged me today was how decisive tyres and tyre management has become in Formula 1. I believe it does much more damage than DRS. Here are some reasons why, from today’s race:

- We really don’t know the strenghts of cars, what we do know is which team and drivers have been able to deal better with the tyres. Ferrari seems to have done a pretty good job overall, and as indicated in Barcelona, Red Bull don’t really understand the tyres; neither do Mercedes.
- Hamilton tryed to defend his position, therefore missed a braking point, and a result lost the position and his strategy. Nowadays, it is easier to let someone pass than fight him
- Vettel was slower than Alonso most of the race, and Massa the first part of it; still, the Ferrari’s refrained from attacking, all because they were thinking of saving their tyres. Alonso even talked about traffic when referring to Sutil and Vettel in front of him (typical Alonso).
- Sutil was doing a fantastic job with the mediums, and with “normal” F1 tyres, he would have had a dozen of classification laps at the end, closing gaps to the front. Instead, the low temperature of the track made him lose positions instead of gaining time – just feels wrong!
- Rosberg said after the race that he was surprised Kimi started the race so strongly since the thought “everyone was supposed to look after their tyres” – is that racing?
- And Kimi himself did a fantastic job with he tyres, and that’s why he won. But is that going to be the criteria this year? The better you get the tyres, the more points and wins you score? Without a fight?
- Alonso tried to give him that fight, but he forced the tyres too much and had to stop chasing to not lose them towards the end. Just sad that a driver can’t push at least reasonably; courage is not rewarded in his system.

I get Schumacher’s complaints. He drove in an era where he was able o push at least a good part of the race, and where softer tyres would be faster right away. Strategy is really difficult this way, it becomes somewhat luck.

No demerit to Kimi, he did a fantastic job with those tyres and only stopping twice, being able to push whenever needed. But I do get bothered by the fact that this skill has completely overshadowed all the other skills in a F1 race, and I don’t like the direction this might take the sport to.

Well the tyres seemed to work pretty logically this time and everybody pretty much raced with the same compounds along the race so it was the same for everybody. Besides Sutil’s tyres lasted almost the whole race distance and he wasn’t that much slower than the rest of the guys (a second or two per lap at the most if I recall correctly). So maybe there would have been more room for better lap times, I still don’t how it matters though, the best driver-car combination won anyways.

Do you consider marathons artificial because the runners can’t run at their absolute maximum for the full length?

@tmekt

Well the tyres seemed to work pretty logically this time and everybody pretty much raced with the same compounds along the race so it was the same for everybody.

Stop taking Hamilton’s words for granted. As I said it before, the tyres might be the same for everybody but how is that relevant when they behave so differently for each team? When one team gets a 13-15 laps life out of the mediums and another one almost double that lifespan? When some teams can’t even work the super-softs for 2 laps? Are the tyres supposed to deliver better performance when new for some (Alonso, Vettel, Hamilton etc.) AND when old for others (Sutil, Raikkonen)?

Do you consider marathons artificial because the runners can’t run at their absolute maximum for the full length?

If you supply them with shoes that wear out in time and some of the runners end up barefoot after 5km while others do the same after 15-20km…then yes. It’s artificial therefore wrong.

And you’re missing out on one aspect. F1 is supposed to be sprint racing, not a marathon. You’re mistaking this competition for the WEC.

the best driver-car combination won anyways.

No it didn’t. It was the best driver-car-rubber management combination. And what I’m saying and what I think @magon4 is trying to say as well is that the latter shouldn’t weigh this much as a factor.

If F1 were sprint racing, then we’d have 40 minutes races. In the refuelling era drivers were accustomed to consider each lap as a qualifying lap, now and before the 90s it was a totally different business.
The rules of the game are clear, everyone knew that tyre management would have been crucial this year (as in the previous 2 seasons), so if you’re not able to set up a car that is capable of taking care of tyres, then you deserve to be below in the standings.

We can then discuss if tyre management is WAY TOO important…

The rules of the game are clear, everyone knew that tyre management would have been crucial this year

I know the rules of the game and I’m sure the teams know the rules of the game and the ones who made the rules know the rules of the game. What I’m saying is that the rules are maybe not the best for what the game should be.

We can then discuss if tyre management is WAY TOO important…

That’s the point, yeah.

So now you guys are complaining about the Pirellis…. hmmmm seems funny how I´ve been saying it all along that it isn´t good for racing having the tyres be the protagonist in races… tyres should just be that… they shouldn´t be the main focus on strategy in order to win…

Yes, the super softs didn’t last very long today

I’d actually like to see the FIA drop the “USE BOTH COUMPOUNDS, OR ELSE….” rule. What’s wrong with a driver using only 1 coumpound trying to not dive into the pits until the flag waves (unless the flagman is as clueless about him as the one at Monaco 1970 was about Rindt taking the lead).

I found this race almost impossible to follow as I didn’t know who was really leading. It’s almost as if NBC and the race need to focus more on the tyres – perhaps, instead of the cars themselves we can see a giant tyre with a number marking the number of pit stops the driver has made and the suspected tyre degradation.

At the end we can applaud the winning tyre. I think Kimi did a stellar job but obviously the Lotus won the race on the medium tyre and driving was the 3rd variable.

I think this is the 1st time a tyre manufacturer has won a race on merit all by itself…