Should tyre compound be allowed to change mid-season ?

Vettel concerned after Barcelona tyre struggle

MAY 14, 2018


Sebastian Vettel is concerned but not panicked after falling even further behind in the world championship battle in Spain.

The gap to Lewis Hamilton is now 17 points after Barcelona, although unlike in Baku the reason this time is that Mercedes was genuinely faster than Ferrari.

Vettel suspects it could be because of the tyre compound thickness, which Pirelli changed for this race to reduce the risk of blistering.

"Apparently, the changes that were made did us more harm than it did our opponents," Ferrari's Vettel said.

"Fortunately, there are normal tyres again for Monaco."

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff denied Pirelli made the change specifically to benefit the reigning world champions.

But now Sky Italia reports that Pirelli may test the pre-Spanish grand prix tyres in the post race test this week to see how they compare to the new ones.

"In the next few days there will be meetings and we don't know if the same tyres will be used in France and Britain. But if they go back, it will be like admitting the mistake," a source said.

If Pirelli sticks to the plan, Vettel admits Ferrari has some homework to do.

"We need to understand why we struggled with the tyres more than the others did," he said.

"I think we have the same tyres in France and Silverstone so it's important that we find an answer."

In Ferrari's favour, Mercedes has struggled at certain circuits in past years, including Monaco.

"There are just some tracks that we are not that good at," Wolff admitted. "Monaco, Hungary, Singapore. Part of why that is we know, but part is still a mystery.

"So that's why I'm only partly celebrating," he added. "I'm thinking of Monte Carlo."

 

The answer isn't to have more restrictive rules, the answer is to turn the teams loose to spend as much money as they want and do as much testing as they want and show the best designs and engines and use whatever tires they want. F1 should be anything goes racing to win.

 

Exactly, change what you want, but let teams test and test and test while they understand the changes, then it’s fair for all. To do it without the opportunity for teams to test (teams picked their tyre allocations several races ago, BEFORE the changes were made, and since the compounds changed drastically, maybe they may have chosen other specs than those they did) is unfair and borders on cheating. To do so to help one team over the rest is downright fraudulent

 

The tires have become ridiculous, last season even the softest compounds could run the entire race without wearing out. This season the FIA added all these new tires but the teams can all still do a one stop (just because the regs)

I would really like to see tires that have an impact on the race and not just watch Hamilton run away from the grid. Pirelli changing tire thickness for a race is complete BS, I would have rather seen 3 and 4 stops to keep it interesting, Spain was just a boring race.

 

I would rather have no stops than four stops.

I think most of the complaints here come from a situation at one event where Ferrari doesn't win.

If Ferrari had won there would be crickets about the tires.

 

Those of us with a clue knew before the weekend started that the old tyres would favour merc, and they would win it, and we were proved right. The fix is in, your continued arguing about it shows it to be true

 

Oh no we accepted Ferrari defeat in Baku cause it was Safety car and plus the team's tactics. We accept a Merc win also in Spain just not the pace gap and add on Ferrari's struggle on tyres is what has been on about. It's what happened and not the results.

 

Maybe you aren’t familiar with F1. Ferrari don’t win the majority of races and in fact haven’t won a championship since 2007.

 

2008 WCC you mean they were so close to getting the 2008 WDC instead bad luck came. They won the WCC 2008 though.

 

It's insulting how blatantly corrupt they are. This is a massive FU to racing fans everywhere.

 

I think many race fans understand...

1) Pirelli has done this before in F1 for the same reasons (track conditions...not Mercedes)...it worked.

2) other racing series do similar modifications for similar reasons...it works.

3) Seb was able to trial both tires at the same track and belatedly said it was the right decision...it worked.

If you focus too closely while looking for a conspiracy, it's easy to overlook. If one takes a "true race fan" perspective... where's the crime?

 

MB asked for the change and got it. That other teams also benefited is beside the point.

 

Another way of looking at it is that...

Mercedes mentioned it...

...and Pirelli said, "we were already going to do that."

Because... like I said... it's been done before for the same reasons that benefitted every team.

 

THAT is Occam's Razor... everything else becomes a stretch.

 

They demanded, they didn’t suggest. Pirelli could have run the tyres as expected and it would have been a race with pitstops, big deal..... they even mention exactly that in a magazine article discussion about the race in Barcelona earlier this year

Explain where Mercedes found a second a lap pace on its nearest rival? A second, not a tenth, a second a lap in race trim? Did they get a tow from an invisible jet fighter?... where did that performance come from when even a tenth takes a lot of finding?