FORMULA 1 DHL TURKISH GRAND PRIX 2020 - ISTANBUL.......Practice 1/2/3 ▄▀▄▀ Spoilers ▀▄▀▄

Based on FP1 and FP2 results it looks as if Stroll has finally found his confidence and speed again. Even beat Checko.

 

I was at IMS in 2005. The weirdest thing I ever saw. The saving grace was the Ferrari Club of America annual meet coincided with it. So not a total loss . . .

 

Huge disgrace for F1 with dejected fans understandably throwing their seat pillows onto the track...

 

Charles, completing most laps, working hard, running well....

 

The background of that was that the Bridgestone tires worked because Firestone (the mother company) was running them on Indycars and knew what to expect.

Still the disaster could have been avoided if it wasn't for the FIA (Max Mosley IIRC): All they needed to do was approve the addition of a chicane in Indy turn 1 and the race would have worked out as planned but they were too stubborn. So my blame is much more on the FIA than on Michelin.

Of course the other course of action would have been for the Michelin shod teams to swallow the bitter pill and go racing and come in for new tires halfway through the race. Would have still given the Bridgestone teams the upper hand but at least saved face in front of the fans. So the Michelin teams with McLaren (Ron Dennis) get also a huge part of the blame.

 

That caused a conflict with the insurance of the track, as it was considered an alteration of the circuit. Changing tyres every few laps was not an option either, as they didn´t have enough sets for everybody.

I think that in the end the best solution was what they did: retire the cars. Although Michelin and their teams should have been a more humble: in the end, the main (although not only) culprits were them, and they managed to make FIA and the Bridgestone teams look like the bad guys.

 

Bridgestone or rather Firestone is not without blame: They knew about the problem but did not alert Michelin. Understandable to a degree but in this instance everybody lost.

 

There was a tyre war, so cooperation was not the order of the day.

I can understand that Bridgestone kept the info to itself.

Michelin didn't do their homework, so I would put the blame on them.

 

I was in the transmission booth with my friend from Radio Monaco for that event and in the paddock with my sponsor. Water bottles among other items were thrown on the track. It was quite emotional all around. I was gathering fans for interviews as well during the race and after. Was quite interesting in the press tower as well.

 

At least they don't have to deal with lose manhole covers yet !

 

LOL Grosjean suggested at lunchtime they all go out in their rental cars...in the sixties, seventies they would have, Bernie saying come on you lot!

 

Just reroute the nearby highway to Istanbul for an extra lap of the track. That should cover it nicely over night.

 

Months !!!!

 

No the really bad series of tire failures there was several years ago, Alonso nearly got a haircut and I think Vergne was another victim, TBD.

 

https://www.autoweek.com/racing/formula-1/a34671708/get-a-grip-pirelli-brings-wrong-tires-to-the-f1-turkish-grand-prix/

Pirelli says they didn’t know the track had been resurfaced. Wow. Just......wow......

 

Does Pirelli have spiked tires and snow chains?!

 

The next two days could be interesting.

 

Kimi, sounds like a rally guy can have a good time out there.

 

Pirelli seems to also lose interest in F1...

 

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Idioti.....

Bring back competing tire manufacturers.

 

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/153496/pirelli-learned-about-turkey-track-resurfacing-too-late

Pirelli Formula 1 boss Mario Isola admits the Italian company would have brought softer tyres to the Turkish Grand Prix had it known in time the track was being resurfaced.

Pirelli learned about the plan to lay a new surface on the traditionally abrasive Istanbul Park track several weeks after committing to its three hardest compounds; the C1, C2 and C3.

After a day when all drivers struggled on the slippery new surface, Isola said with more notice Pirelli would have gone a step softer and brought the C2, C3 and C4 range, potentially giving drivers more chance of finding grip over the course of the weekend.

Ironically Pirelli didn't know about the planned surface change despite having strong connections to Turkey, with a factory not far from the circuit.

"Obviously we had the information about the resurfacing of the track quite late," said Isola. "And we didn't know about the characteristics of the tarmac.

"We have a tyre choice that is quite conservative considering the condition of the tarmac, and the type of tarmac we have now.

"I was expecting a tarmac that was more similar to Portimao, where we had smooth tarmac, with bitumen on top, and tyres were able to develop some grip.

"Instead here we had no grip, probably a combination of the temperature, the fact that it was damp, the type of tarmac, and the selection that is quite hard, the hardest that we can have.

"This circuit was resurfaced with the support of Tilke I believe, while Portimao was resurfaced with the support of Dromo, they are two companies that are working around that. So they probably used a different material."

Regarding the call on resurfacing he said: "I believe it was quite a late decision also from the circuit. We are well connected with the FIA in a normal situation, and on tracks where we used to go we have the information in advance. This year, it was a bit more difficult.

"New local promoters, maybe the information was not so clear. But the result is that I got the information that the plan was to have a new tarmac I believe four weeks ago, just before the start of the works at the track.

"I believe that they wanted to be ready with the circuit with a new image and everything in good condition. The tarmac was for sure quite old, but this doesn't mean that it was not good for racing.

"So it was a decision we have to accept, basically, it's done. So there is very little we can do. But the result is this one, basically very little grip.