Bridgestone will reportedly supply slick tyres for Formula One teams to trial at the upcoming test in Spain. The FIA announced earlier this year that the planned 2008 reintroduction of slicks, which were banned in favour of the current grooves at the end of 1997, would now be delayed. But the Dutch magazine Formule 1 Race Report claims that every team will be given several sets of slicks to try at Jerez early next month, ahead of the likely reintroduction of the tyres in 2009. The publication quotes a BMW Sauber spokesman, and also the concurrence of the Red Bull teams and Honda, as confirming the news. The Jerez-spec slicks will reportedly be based on the slick tyre currently produced by Bridgestone for the GP2 series. It is also reported that tyre-warming blankets will not be allowed in 2008.
I had no idea they were thinking of using slicks in 2008, guess that means I'm not disappointed by the delay. Anyway, the banning of tire blankets is a little strange, but I guess it'll mean coming out of the pits/starting the race could be a little more interesting.
Which team do you think will be the first one to replace the pit ceiling lights over the tires with heat lamps? Mark
I hate the grooved tires just as I hate the narrow track on current F1 cars and the explosion of aero appendages. I much prefer the cleaner lines of the late 1980s-early 1990s GP cars, with wide track suspensions, slicks, and the monster rear tires.
...with some additionaly fancy lighting from the floor..."it was the idea of our marketing crew... really! *cough*"
I agree totally. Back then when you saw an F-1 car... it was mean and scary... today they are all like a big F2000... not as intimidating...
That and the wheels go on a special stand that just happnes to be heated as well. Oops! It makes the wheels hot? Well, then I guess the tires might get hot as well.
I hope the slick tires will help shifting the car's grip away from aerodynamics towards mechanical grip. The lack of overtaking over the last years is mostly due to the aerodynamics being so sophisticated that you can't drive fast in "dirty" air, ie behind another car..
Why the delay until 2009? Is it they just don't want to make too many changes with respect to the ECU and TC? They could produce a viable tire immediately, no? The older F1 cars just look so low, wide and mean! The narrower track was supposed to promote more passing, I wonder if this has been true compared to before '98? Hard to compare, with all the progressive aero on the car....
like others, i had no idea this was even speculated! Looking forward to these tests and (hopefully) 2009!
There have been a lot of posts in the past couple days with info that I wasn't even aware was being talked about. Sounds like they're trying to completely turn F1 on it's head. If it makes the races more interesting and allows more passing then I'm all for it. If it keeps F1 as a parade lap race then clearly they're doing something wrong.
I find it funny that a move to a narrower track to promote overtaking actually allows the car to be more aerodynamic, and thus shift the balance towards aero-dependency even more. I can't wait for '09 by the sound of things. No TC, slicks, *I would say much smaller wings and i would also allow moveable aero*. Any shift to mechanical grip would be amazing! If the downforce from wings for Monaco were more like the angles of a current-day Monza set-up, and the rest of the car's grip was from tyres, suspension geometry and weight balance!
I'm with you, but hoping for the new aero rules to take place in 2009 might be a bit wishful. Autosport said a while back that a few new developments might be in place by 2009, but the whole plan won't fully go into effect until 2011. As long as the lap times don't get slower and there is more overtaking, I'm fine with just about any new ideas for F1, especially the lack of driver aids and the addition of slicks.
