Seems that's indeed the case..... Anyone wanna make odds on them being back next year?...... Cheers, Ian Http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/107422
But was this done by team choice? What pisses me off is that Pirelli has pretty much been ordered to change the tire to give a couple of teams an advantage, and at that, other teams, which designed their cars properly, a disadvantage. Pirelli where asked to design a tire that lasts 20 laps. It clearly does (look at Lotus, Force India and I believe even Sauber did so too!). The fact that other designed tire slaying monsters is their own problem.
I seem to recall that it was done by team choice, for reasons that were mainly political and/or sponsors, economics... I agree with you on the other points. Those who have devised a clever solution to use the actual tyres we have should not be robbed of the benefits of having been clever, this is unfair. What upset me in the first place is that we all know too well that all these rules, devices, etc...created or adopted to "artificially enhance the show" only makes racing less enjoyable in the end. I mean, we already have DRS and KERS to enhance overtaking, what need was it therefore to make racing also unpredictable, on top of that? Just because one year in the Canadian GP at Montréal the tyres un-expectingly producted a complete change in the hierarchy, which was enjoyable FOR A CHANGE and FOR ONCE, the powers-that-be decided that it would be funny to have the same unpredictability at all races? And nowadays we have races with three to four tyre changes, something like 80 to 100 pit stops during a 1:30 race, which is plainly ridiculous; and drivers "cruising" at 90% just to preserve their tyres. Formula One is shooting itself in the foot... Make it simple: one tyre change maximum per car (outside punctures) but not mandatory (= if someone wants to use the same tyre for the whole race, let it be) three different tyres quality, free choice, and that's enough if we have Kers and DRS. And what they have decided is to "artificially correct" an "artificial rule" that was invented to "artificially enhance" the show...ha! Good luck with that, lads. Rgds
Seems they're all in for some long nights for a while; Edited for brevity, my comments in bold "Err, sorry guys, you've gotta build a new car!" I continue to be surprised nobody is whining or even vetoing the whole thing. Cheers, Ian Formula 1 tyre change: tech implications of Pirelli's decision - F1 news - AUTOSPORT.com
If they have the resources this is the PERFECT time to refine and move this years car along then forget it. 2014 looms larger. Final updates on the way I think this is great. Talk about mixing it up. All bets are off now....possibly.
Outside of the normal don't make waves ethos of modern F1 there must be strong motivation. Again I suspect it has to do with the delamination issue. In today's press release Pirelli soft pedaled it but in unconvincing fashion. They claimed that since the carcass maintained integrity after delamination there wasn't a safety concern. Well maybe there isn't for the car suffering failure but flying hunks of rubber do put other drivers at risk. There's a lot they aren't saying.
Scarbs has gone off the deep end with that analysis IMO, I believe we may see alternate front wing endplates and maybe some suspension geometry rethinking, but that's all. Everyone will be allowed to run a slightly lower ride height, and this may benefit the bigger teams who can alter their geometry quicker than smaller teams, or it may not depending on the flexibility of their 2013 suspension designs. The sky is not falling. I'm not sure how much I agree/disagree with this in its entirety, but Pirelli have seen that tires falling apart on the circuit isn't doing them any favors for the Pirelli name so I cannot really blame them for moving in the direction they are. Them recognizing there may be a problem provides a perception that they are 'doing the right thing' or whatever any casual observer choses to call it. It's a difficult position for Pirelli considering Bernie was the person who asked them to design 'fall apart' tires in the first place, and now Bernie is ripping them
I'm sorry, I think it's a complete and utter ****ing joke!..... I don't think any of 'em have resources just laying around waiting for such a project after all. Any "excess" is already head down on next years efforts. Throw in the need for new bodywork, wings, floors, suspension components et al and they're *all* gonna be struggling IMO. Now, I've said many times F1 is *hard*, as it should be. But at least they used to know the "rules" (or the rubber) wouldn't change under 'em mid-season. If I were a team principal I'd be *pissed*! Cheers, Ian
+1 Still seems to me they've made a unilateral decision to make the changes and told the teams, "take it or leave it". Given the publicity they were getting I'm hardly surprised, but that doesn't make it right. And if we really get down to it, for what? We've had less than a handful of (non terminal of course) delams. We've had one race with 4, rather than the somehow "preferred" 2-3 stops. Everyone got up in arms about "too many pitstops being confusing?" Look at the timing screen if you want to see who's where! If you're that easily confused maybe you should be watching something else?..... Cheers, Ian
I see your point but we will all be in the dark as this progresses and that entices us to speculate more and enjoy what will be presented. Yes its not easy but for fans we can agree uncertainty is upon us.
I'd be willing to bet the big 4 will still be at the front and the Russians at the back though! It seems it's gonna cost 'em much CFD & tunnel time - ie, $$$ to go nowhere! I dunno how difficult it is to revert to last years car (?) Fer sure, if I were Mclaren with my big silver dog versus last years winner, I'd be seriously investigating the possibility. They, in particular, have nothing to lose at this stage....... Cheers, Ian
Possibly.... Reverting to the previous car is not without precedent - Mclaren did it ~10 years back after a few races IIRC. Today, I just don't know if it's possible; Can they simply "grandfather in" last years crash tests for example? Are the damn things even still in one piece? Lots of bits get migrated every year so it's not like they can just charge it up & light the fires. Cheers, Ian
Pirelli has had enough of doing what it's told and catching heck for it. Add the Spectre of a PR Armageddon if a delam results in injury and/or death and its no surprise that they said "enough". It's an open secret that the teams have hated the tire situation all along. This is the opportunity for them to effect change. The timing may suck but I suspect that their eyes are on next year and the new formula. They'll have enough to deal with without a new round of Pirelli roulette.
I think Seb goes from title co-contender with Alonso to clear title favorite with the upcoming change. It's still odd that Fauxtus and Ferrari have been silent though. Did I miss something?
The interesting thing is that the delaminations are partially due to the new tire structure, as I understand it. While tires peeling apart is ugly, the cars have been able to pit for changes, which would not have been possible with prior tire prototypes.
Nope. Their silence on the issue has been deafening..... I guess it's not going to get released, but I suspect they sent 'em all a memo saying "this is what we're gonna do, take it or leave it!" What can they then say? We're taking our cars home and not going to race? *Big* troubles with Bernie..... Cheers, Ian
Like Hamilton said" I can't go any slower" trying to save his tiers. They should never have designed them like that in the first place.
Bwah, bwah, bwah!...... In fairness, they simply did *exactly* what was asked of them; Tires that last 1/3rd to 1/2 the race. They've delivered. Now they're being pilloried. As I think Bas noted, "you build a tire slaying monster, you (*should*) suffer". Other's are just about managing. Now, they're all back in the sims/modeling/tunneling etc at huge expense. First time I can recall such a huge change occurring mid-season, and it simply isn't fair IMO. OK, I understand why they've done it but I do think they're done once the contract is up. Bernie will pull some rabbit out of the hat, but even he is going to have work at it..... Cheers, Ian
A tad harsh. If Pirelli is to believed not even they had a handle on what tire performance would be in race conditions before the season started because of the lack of adquate testing.How could MB? What's surprising is tha the tire farce took so long before blowing up.
