Super-soft tyres lasting far longer than expected

2011 Monaco GP FP2 analysis

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Adrian Sutil, Force India, Monaco, 2011

Pirelli expected their super-soft tyre would be good for no more than ten laps in Monaco.

But in second practice the tyres were lasting for more than 20.

Here’s all the data from the second practice session.

Longest stint comparison

  • In second practice the super-soft tyre held up surprisingly well over long stints. Sebastian Vettel did a 23-lap stint on them and was able to lap in the high 1’18s (see graph below)
  • Jenson Button did similarly well on his run on super-softs (also below), improving his best time by half a second 16 laps into his stint
  • Will the tyres last this well in the race? It’s not a given as Monaco typically sees very high track evolution as the surface becomes cleaner and grippier. But at this stage Pirelli’s initial estimate of ten-lap stints on the super-softs looks very conservative

https://www.racefans.net/charts/2011drivercolours.csv

12345678910111213141516171819202122232425
Sebastian Vettel79.0378.80878.58578.88879.43780.06679.03379.28581.53879.25687.77683.54387.36578.59879.6678.83386.85788.70878.81780.31143.048
Mark Webber79.78980.09187.14979.97180.16987.32279.51279.65879.57291.24379.46879.23586.82679.18387.49679.147125.774
Lewis Hamilton84.40979.23679.00882.70884.23391.36580.50378.848127.268
Jenson Button79.57779.52279.29579.56779.79680.88281.5979.25679.24681.24979.38580.16982.68892.71278.61482.281142.439
Fernando Alonso78.74978.8878.98478.77778.63880.71978.51283.17279.23183.62778.909
Felipe Massa79.38578.82778.42678.54979.1686.23578.37378.46984.31178.42979.12894.09680.7191.9
Michael Schumacher79.81479.87679.68489.39287.32385.51579.44579.81192.69283.606120.093
Nico Rosberg81.03683.30379.92980.180.55181.62881.742
Nick Heidfeld82.54282.15784.18181.09181.0883.66590.30580.57686.266143.807
Vitaly Petrov83.0282.98278.47198.19178.13585.29978.0283.84377.33977.883
Rubens Barrichello83.84482.32691.64181.70181.18880.89288.29692.01884.85983.581.1386.76282.04681.44
Pastor Maldonado82.34282.50980.58481.08381.36980.95781.3383.9280.94382.76182.60885.10694.18780.89480.58140.225
Adrian Sutil81.24681.42481.29481.25781.12881.57181.45981.95781.29282.90881.01380.93981.06386.52183.98281.489135.434
Paul di Resta80.48484.93891.45483.1379.73590.96279.053
Kamui Kobayashi84.66384.66781.43381.92482.03481.11981.04881.83481.50581.39881.082
Sergio Perez82.16180.28780.33787.08880.48780.58480.47980.34286.21780.3480.75180.2480.54493.6280.21680.27190.29779.95385.22581.71481.14486.03186.71381.742141.521
Sebastien Buemi81.38380.90280.84880.66181.43180.55180.52880.37180.67484.59784.41780.69381.27288.12181.1985.48281.653
Jaime Alguersuari83.26581.92181.51481.09181.26381.59682.07682.18781.58481.46381.60381.46381.72982.17987.6582.45382.5582.7183.23986.19684.56286.473142.74
Heikki Kovalainen83.43582.33182.22582.56386.2981.86982.70582.40582.37982.97284.504164.45483.132127.037
Jarno Trulli83.59483.07682.27385.12482.4181.78181.9381.87182.282.70290.78583.26382.547133.128
Narain Karthikeyan88.10285.09293.75294.96488.5285.08984.01583.579
Vitantonio Liuzzi
Timo Glock83.68582.14388.13182.55882.32185.67783.51983.22382.76782.66983.38689.67382.769122.617
Jerome d’Ambrosio82.70282.07282.66882.61283.01185.75983.65884.06284.3784.09788.55587.52486.90391.177141.821

Complete practice times

  • Narain Karthikeyan was outside the 107% time from Q1 (1’21.982) set on soft tyres. If his FP2 time was set on super-softs, it does not bode well for his chances of qualifying
  • Giedo van de Garde, Sam Bird and Jules Bianchi were all faster than Karthikeyan in the GP2 qualifying session held after second practice
  • 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
CarDriverCarBest lapGapStint lapAt timeLaps
15Fernando AlonsoFerrari1’15.1232/55342
23Lewis HamiltonMcLaren-Mercedes1’15.2280.1053/47033
38Nico RosbergMercedes1’15.3210.1982/25744
44Jenson ButtonMcLaren-Mercedes1’15.4480.3251/35638
51Sebastian VettelRed Bull-Renault1’15.6670.5443/35046
66Felipe MassaFerrari1’15.7810.6583/55145
77Michael SchumacherMercedes1’16.3561.2335/56633
82Mark WebberRed Bull-Renault1’16.6421.5193/35642
914Adrian SutilForce India-Mercedes1’17.1011.9783/36246
109Nick HeidfeldRenault1’17.1262.0034/66238
1110Vitaly PetrovRenault1’17.3372.2144/46735
1217Sergio PerezSauber-Ferrari1’17.5412.4181/34647
1311Rubens BarrichelloWilliams-Cosworth1’17.5702.4473/33639
1418Sebastien BuemiToro Rosso-Ferrari1’17.5812.4581/23032
1512Pastor MaldonadoWilliams-Cosworth1’17.6332.5101/32449
1616Kamui KobayashiSauber-Ferrari1’17.7062.5831/33637
1719Jaime AlguersuariToro Rosso-Ferrari1’17.7892.6661/34643
1820Heikki KovalainenLotus-Renault1’18.2663.1437/76250
1921Jarno TrulliLotus-Renault1’18.4903.3672/55939
2015Paul di RestaForce India-Mercedes1’19.0533.9307/71515
2125Jerome d’AmbrosioVirgin-Cosworth1’19.1854.0622/45940
2224Timo GlockVirgin-Cosworth1’19.3384.2152/32435
2322Narain KarthikeyanHRT-Cosworth1’22.0666.9434/75033

Ultimate lap times

  • Taking all their sector times into account the gap between Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton is even smaller. But remember Hamilton set his best time later in the session, benefiting from the track evolution
CarDriverCarUltimate lapGapDeficit to best
15Fernando AlonsoFerrari1’15.1210.002
23Lewis HamiltonMcLaren-Mercedes1’15.1930.0720.035
38Nico RosbergMercedes1’15.3210.2000.000
44Jenson ButtonMcLaren-Mercedes1’15.3550.2340.093
51Sebastian VettelRed Bull-Renault1’15.6670.5460.000
66Felipe MassaFerrari1’15.7420.6210.039
77Michael SchumacherMercedes1’16.1911.0700.165
82Mark WebberRed Bull-Renault1’16.5281.4070.114
914Adrian SutilForce India-Mercedes1’17.1011.9800.000
109Nick HeidfeldRenault1’17.1262.0050.000
1110Vitaly PetrovRenault1’17.2082.0870.129
1212Pastor MaldonadoWilliams-Cosworth1’17.3522.2310.281
1317Sergio PerezSauber-Ferrari1’17.4102.2890.131
1411Rubens BarrichelloWilliams-Cosworth1’17.5702.4490.000
1518Sebastien BuemiToro Rosso-Ferrari1’17.5812.4600.000
1616Kamui KobayashiSauber-Ferrari1’17.6632.5420.043
1719Jaime AlguersuariToro Rosso-Ferrari1’17.7072.5860.082
1820Heikki KovalainenLotus-Renault1’18.0212.9000.245
1921Jarno TrulliLotus-Renault1’18.2973.1760.193
2015Paul di RestaForce India-Mercedes1’19.0383.9170.015
2125Jerome d’AmbrosioVirgin-Cosworth1’19.1254.0040.060
2224Timo GlockVirgin-Cosworth1’19.2094.0880.129
2322Narain KarthikeyanHRT-Cosworth1’21.9896.8680.077

Speed trap

#DriverCarEngineMax speedGap
114Adrian SutilForce IndiaMercedes283.4
215Paul di RestaForce IndiaMercedes283.30.1
310Vitaly PetrovRenaultRenault281.71.7
49Nick HeidfeldRenaultRenault280.33.1
57Michael SchumacherMercedesMercedes280.23.2
64Jenson ButtonMcLarenMercedes279.24.2
73Lewis HamiltonMcLarenMercedes2794.4
818Sebastien BuemiToro RossoFerrari278.94.5
912Pastor MaldonadoWilliamsCosworth278.94.5
108Nico RosbergMercedesMercedes278.45
116Felipe MassaFerrariFerrari277.75.7
1219Jaime AlguersuariToro RossoFerrari277.55.9
1316Kamui KobayashiSauberFerrari277.36.1
145Fernando AlonsoFerrariFerrari277.16.3
1511Rubens BarrichelloWilliamsCosworth277.16.3
1617Sergio PerezSauberFerrari276.76.7
1724Timo GlockVirginCosworth276.76.7
1821Jarno TrulliLotusRenault275.97.5
1920Heikki KovalainenLotusRenault275.77.7
202Mark WebberRed BullRenault275.77.7
2125Jerome d’AmbrosioVirginCosworth274.78.7
2222Narain KarthikeyanHRTCosworth274.39.1
231Sebastian VettelRed BullRenault274.39.1

2011 Monaco Grand Prix

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    Keith Collantine
    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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    55 comments on “Super-soft tyres lasting far longer than expected”

    1. 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.

      1. 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.

      2. 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

        1. UKfanatic (@)
          28th May 2011, 2:09

          good point

    2. 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…

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

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

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

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

        1. 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…

          1. 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.

            1. 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!

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

          3. 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.

    4. 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 :)

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

      1. Yumm, candy guard.

      2. Typo – fixed.

      3. I like candy guard better.

    6. 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?

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

        1. 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.

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

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

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

      3. 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.

        1. 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…

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

    7. 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!

      1. 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.

        1. Good point. I can’t wait! :D

    8. 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.

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

        1. 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!

    9. 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?

      1. 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.

    10. *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*

    11. ROFLOL, Karthikeyan is slower than GP2 drivers!

      1. 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.

        1. 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.

    12. 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.

    13. 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.

    14. 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.

      1. 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 . . .

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

    15. 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.

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

      2. 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.

    16. Now it’s funny how Renault was so sure they will be standing on podium this weekend and can maybe get into 1’16’s…

      1. They were around 10th – 12th in FP1 and FP2 in Melbourne and Malaysia too

    17. 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

      Interesting point!

      Doesn’t look good HRT does it?

      I guess that the 20 lap stint on the super-soft could be to do with fuel loads?

    18. Really not a fan of Sutil, but he sure gets around this place in a hurry. Absolutely destroying di Resta thus far. Haven’t seen that yet. He always seems to pull it out in Monaco.

      1. The Last Pope
        27th May 2011, 0:21

        Yeah. Sutil looks good here. I think Di Resta needs more downforce, they really don’t need to be that much faster than the rest on the straights.

      2. To be fair to Paul I doubt he has much experience in Monaco.

        Correct me im i’m wrong however.

      3. Di Resta’s had some issues to overcome. He only did 15 laps, less than half of the rest of the field.
        Still not a good sign, since he doesn’t know the circuit. He could surely have used the excercise.

    Comments are closed.