Pirelli to run F1 car on 18-inch wheels in test

2014 F1 season

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Pirelli will run an F1 car on 18-inch wheels during next week’s test at Silverstone as its urges the sport to consider a move towards larger wheels.

F1’s official tyre supplier says its 18-inch prototype tyres are “fully functional” and will be used for demonstration runs during the test next week using Lotus’s current car.

“The 13-inch tyre is no longer relevant to the everyday road user, because even an 18-inch tyre is used by standard vehicles these days,” said motorsport director Paul Hembery.

“While 18-inch tyres would be a big step for Formula One, there are many other motorsport series that already use this size. So there’s scope to go even bigger than that in Formula One in years to come.

“In order to underline F1’s role as a test bed for future mobility solutions, we believe that it benefits everybody to have as close a link between road car tyres and competition tyres as possible: a belief we have held ever since we introduced the low profile tyre from competition to road use back in the 1970s.

“However, we’d like to emphasise that this move is not something that we are actively pushing for, as our role in Formula One is not to instigate changes. Instead, it’s to help teams and drivers make the most out of the equipment, regulations and resources they have at their disposal – whatever they decide that framework is going to be.”

Pirelli acknowledged that moving to 18-inch tyres would mean less space for their branding on the wheel rims.

The above image is an artist’s impression of how 18-inch wheels would look on a recent F1 car.

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Image © Ferrari/Ercole Colombo/Jeremy Hancox

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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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59 comments on “Pirelli to run F1 car on 18-inch wheels in test”

  1. DK (@seijakessen)
    4th July 2014, 17:29

    “In order to underline F1’s role as a test bed for future mobility solutions, we believe that it benefits everybody to have as close a link between road car tyres and competition tyres as possible: a belief we have held ever since we introduced the low profile tyre from competition to road use back in the 1970s.”

    So why make tires that degrade as fast as they do, and do not hold up under on-the-limit driving?

    lol, such self-serving garbage.

    1. @seijakessen

      So why make tyres that degrade as fast as they do, and do not hold up under on-the-limit driving?

      Because that’s what they were asked to make.

      1. also, i don’t think a Fiat Punto, or a Peugeot 208 can stand 4g of lateral and 5G longitudinal acceleration, or get up to 80 c°, right? the same with the PU, how many road cars go about an hour and a half reving up to 12000rpm?

        1. Race tyres need to balance grip and durability.
          Road tyres need to balance grip and durability.

          Also, if you know how to make an efficient engine that revs to 12000rpm last 5000 miles, you can use that knowledge to make a road engine that revs to 7000rpm last 100000 miles.

        2. Im led to believe the V6 LaFerrari did pretty well =P

      2. @keithcollantine
        If they’re building degrad tyres as requested, they must making misleading utterances like:

        we believe that it benefits everybody to have as close a link between road car tyres and competition tyres as possible: a belief we have held ever since we introduced the low profile tyre from competition to road use back in the 1970s

        It’s a contradiction in terms.

      3. Sad but true, the novelty has worn off now so it’s time for something new, I don’t know how the suspension (or driver) is going to stand up to non-compliant low-profile tyres though.

        1. why is it a novelty? having low profile tyres on a single seater is more a novelty. some things in single seaters should remain, ie open face cockpit, and wide slick tyres. these other things can be done on lemans prototypes

  2. Best Pirelli decision, since they’ve come to F1.

  3. Michael Brown
    4th July 2014, 17:34

    I think 18 inch wheels would be good for F1. Easier to heat up, although the added weight would be a detriment. F1 cars need to be much lighter anyway.

    1. The rate at which tyres tend to heat up tends to be as much a function of the actual construction of the tyre and the nature of the rubber compound (IndyCar, for example, has no problems with running on relatively high profile 15 inch tyres).

  4. Some of you may recall we had a debate on this very topic last year and more than half supported a move to larger wheel rims:

    Should F1 switch to larger wheel rims?

    1. I think its great if Pirelli adds the opportunity to try it out to the discussion. IMO there is no good reason to stay on 13″ wheels apart from maybe saving the cost to rethink the suspension and learn new aerodynamics to work best with bigger rims

  5. Very interesting. I think larger rims look uglier, but more futuristic.

    It doesn’t bother me personally though, and nor do aesthetics. If they do it, it wouldn’t be the worst thing.

    1. I’m looking forward to a pimped-out highrider F1 car with 24″ chrome wires.

      1. +1

        that bounces it’s front end on the parade lap.

        Lewis being the gangsta rapper would be first in,,,,

        Bhahahahahaaa

  6. Wait, something sensible? Does the FIA know? Have Todt and Ecclestone taken steps against this yet?

    Unless Pirelli is going to test double tyres or tyres that produce sound and isn’t telling us..

    1. LOL…best comment of the day!

    2. FIA/teams will veto it on cost grounds I’m sure…

    3. Going by the sad state of play these days, I’d also nominate this as COTD, a rather sarcastic one.

  7. Current Team Enstone car? Or perhaps the Lotus Evora?

    Anyway I’m not pushing for this and prefer the way it is today as one of the unique things about F1, but it’s not like it’s the Super Bonus Season Finale Double Points Bonanza or standing restarts or trumpets one the back of the car……..

  8. Voted ”NO” last time when this matter was discussed and I still say NO. Doesn’t really work with this kind of car. It’s better to keep them beefy. It’s 1 of the unique features of this particular sport and visuals matter too. Then, I don’t know who looks at racing in general, but at F1 even more so, if it’s road relevant or not. Personally, I’m not at all. I’m for the show, not making all kind of calculations if those technologies could be under the body of my car or not. I just take IT as it is. It is known generally anyway that race cars are “special”, that’s why most of them are not allowed on public roads. So, who cares if F1 cars have something to do with the road cars or not ?!? I think only the constructors care about this part, they mention it every time it’s needed, that’s why I’m thinking the big car companies like (Mercedes and Renault now) are 1 of the big dangers for F1. They care just about the image and if it’s road relevant. Mercedes’ threat to leave F1 if V6s are not adopted is the latest proof.

  9. I don’t see this as a massive necessity… bth, I don’t think they look that nice, but appart from looks, I don’t see much benefit in the change…

  10. Not exactly a cost cutting measure if the FIA does decide to go ahead with this in the future. Seems it would guarantee redesign of suspension components and possibly aero too.

    Interesting to see how a move like this would be justified if approved by the powers that be. Road car relevance, improved performance or to bring in new fans because of the look?

    1. It’s my hypothesis that this is purely road relevance – for Pirelli. In the past, tyre companies could say ‘buy our tyres, we rule in F1!’, but with a single supplier, the current ‘built not to last’ request and Pirelli not being aimed at the average Golf/Vectra driver, I think Pirelli prefer running something of which they can use the data of in a broader perspective, rather than a tyre which you can’t even relate to other racing series.

      If given the time, (as in, the decision taken before november or later) the teams should be able to develop a new year’s car as they used to, without that much loss of data, I’d imagine.

      1. That, and the teams are always tweaking suspension and aero anyway.

      2. Yeah, its mostly about road relevance. Actually it might even open up the game for Michelin to enter, as that company more or less insisted on going to 18″ rims to enter.

    2. It could end up saving the teams lots of money, if the regulation change to 18″ wheels also includes a move to steel brakes. The small wheels they run now makes it impossible to run anything but carbon brakes (at a huge expense), while the larger wheel diameter could easily hold the larger steel disc setup.

      1. They use carbon brakes because they don’t fade, they are better and lighter, not because they cannot fit steel brakes within the rim.

        If anything, they’d run bigger carbon brake discs if the regulations allow them.

        1. As you say, steel brakes are technically feasible for the current generation of F1 cars – when Jaguar entered the sport, they tested steel brakes and found that, provided adequate cooling could be provided, there was no significant difference in braking distance.
          However, carbon brakes were preferred for a number of reasons – safety being one major reason (steel brakes were found to be more likely to crack or warp under heavy braking loads), along with reduced unsprung weight and, as you say, greater resistance to fade at high temperature.

        2. could go larger but thinner discs, making heat management easier (more surface).

    3. @bullmello This was never sold to be a cost-cutting measure. In fact, this should increase spending quite a lot as the current tires are roughly 50% of the suspension travel. Re-engineering the suspension in dampers and such will certainly cost many millions.

      1. @beejis60
        Agreed, I just find it ironic to hear the talk about how important cost cutting is while also discussing new possible regulations will add more more costs. The FIA merely pays lip service to cost cutting measures.

        This isn’t inherently a bad idea, but it is more than likely going to increase costs. I’m for the notion of incorporating good innovations into F1. I’m rather ambivalent about the increased wheel/tire size.

        The hybrid V6 turbo move has been a good and timely idea in my opinion. F1 is expensive. Teams should be prepared. At the same time, massive spending does not always mean massive results.

  11. Me and my dad went to the Raceweek london event and whilst we were (refreshingly) up close to the 2012 Lotus he pointed out how comparatively small the wheels were to the tyre sidewalls. I think after all the ugly noses and narrow rear wings it’s good to see that there might be an aesthetically pleasing rule change.

  12. Hah! My car runs on 14-inch wheels. I like the fact that I can replace a whole set of tyres on my car for the cost some people pay to replace one 19-inch tyre.

    In any case, tyre size has never been a gripe of mine, it’s the compounds that they need to get right. Make them easier to heat up, since most drivers seem to be having issues, and more durable. There are many more changes I would prefer to see.

    1. And that is the one fact that seems to be driving the decision – it is not so much technical feasibility but aesthetic considerations. Hembery himself has made that clear in a related interview:
      “We thought let’s have a look at it to see what it looks like, because essentially it is about aesthetics to see if it looks more relevant to a road car and is that a direction the sport would like to take.”
      http://www.espn.co.uk/f1/motorsport/story/165455.html

      Added to that, as you rightly note the profit margin for the tyre manufacturers on a large diameter low profile tyre is substantially higher, whilst the performance benefits are not always quite so clear – in fact, Hembery has hinted that large low profile 18 inch tyres could actually be something of a detriment to ride quality due to the reduced compliance of the tyre sidewall.

    2. @steevkay Yes, you’re right… but a race tire vs. street tires are vastly different. FWIW, I have 17″ and 18″ wheels on my race car and the 18″ tires run about $410 each whereas the 17″ tires $175 each.

      1. @beejis60 I know, you can’t compare race tyres to road tyres. Oddly enough, I have a set of Pirellis on my car, too, but if you tried to put these on an F1 car, I’m sure the failures would be even more spectacular that what we saw in Silverstone last year (if the tyres didn’t just fail while trying to get up to any sort of speed). Works great on my ~110hp daily driver, not so much on a 700+hp downforce machine.

        In any case, 18-inch or 13-inch rims, there are many other issues I feel strongly about. This is one decision that I don’t feel strongly about, one way or the other.

        P.S. It’s crazy that the 1-inch extra in diameter drives up the cost by such a margin. It must add up quickly if you’re a track enthusiast!

  13. Don’t think it is such a necesity but if Pirelli insist on it I see few reasons to not go ahead with it.

  14. Its also important to point out that if F1 moves to 18″ rims it will mean Pirelli could share the tyre moldings between the categories which run 18″ slicks.

    Thats also a part of why Michelin were pushing for tyres that size when they were pushing to enter F1. I also think Bridgestone were after 15″ tyres when they were in F1 so that the y would be in line with the tyres there Firestone brand were supplying to Indycar.

  15. Aesthetically in my opinion I would much rather they change the rim size to something similar to Indy car and have 15/16 inch rims, that would look the best. However, the change would make an improvement on the tiny rims we have now. People will probably talk (and moan – as is seemingly the new thing to do for every rule change) about them at first but will soon get used to them.

    Also the Formula E cars look to have these larger rims and look beautiful so I’m all for it.

    1. Ya, FE has 18″ wheels…

      I also believe the WEC and DTM cars have 18″ wheels.

      1. Not sure some of the cars in WEC are probably running even larger rims than that (in the GT classes)

  16. I’d rather see rear tyres twice as wide, not bothered how tall they are.
    But hard/soft identification would be an issue – I find the Indycar reds & blacks hard to make out.

    Surely 23″ would be more road car (salesman) relevant, with all the SUVs stinking up the roads nowadays.

    1. The Tyres will have the same height dimensions, only the rims are changing.

  17. If they use larger wheels that is less tire sidewall to absorb impact.Would they therefore have to add suspension to compensate?This would add much more weight than the larger wheels.

    1. Look at Valtteri Bottas in Australia. Tapped the wall and punctured his rear right tyre in a minor impact.

  18. No please no stop taking F1 essence away

    1. “F1 essence” ?!, you ever look at early F1 cars ? Technology changes and F1 changes with it, otherwise we could just watch FormulaV and save many fortunes. Google it.

  19. Stephen Carter
    4th July 2014, 23:30

    “… less space for their branding on the wheel rims”
    I have never noticed the tyre branding on an F1 wheel rim, and can’t see why it should be any less space with bigger wheels. As long as there is room for the branding on the tyre sidewall, surely that is all that matters?

  20. The multispoke design in the above image is a bit ugly but something like a curved dished 5 spoke deisgn would look amazing on an F1 car.

    Like this: http://www.dmmultimedia.com/capri2006_media/capri_2006_037dd.jpg

  21. I hate the current small wheels and think they look silly. 18″ wheels will be a massive improvement.

  22. Isn’t this all about getting rid of tyre warmers? Just one story from April.

  23. Bigger tyres would be more dangerous if they are not fixed properly

  24. I’ve got to say that this change from 13 inch wheels to 18 inch wheels has annoyed and disappointed me is because like most, if not all F1 fans dont watch F1 to see wheels rotating round and round, I watch F1 to see some of the most talented and most cashed up drivers race against and alongside each other in the fastest 4 wheeled race cars the world will ever see! Another reason that this change in wheel size has annoyed me is becauere are a lot more serious matter

  25. I’ve got to say that this change from 13 inch wheels to 18 inch wheels has annoyed and disappointed me is because like most, if not all F1 fans dont watch F1 to see wheels rotating round and round, I watch F1 to see some of the most talented and most cashed up drivers race against and alongside each other in the fastest 4 wheeled race cars the world will ever see!

    Another reason that this change in wheel size has annoyed me is because the are more serious matters and issues in the F1 world. For example, the cost cutting scenario. Does this change help that? Not really. They’re using more money to put these wheels on the cars. What about the noise? The noise that everyone loved so much is now gone and instead of trying every method possible to bring the noise back, its only being proposed and thought about while this unnecessary change is being introduced in the next in-season test. Where’s the logic behind that? I mean, if I really wanted to, I can get 18 inch wheels on my Hyundai Excel.

  26. Sorry the first comment was an accidental post

  27. I prefer fatter tyres.

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