in Q2 LH and FM went back out to do a 2nd run. and the commentators said something along the lines of "using these tyres now could hurt them in the race tomorrow" now have i missed a new rule or forgotten an old one somewhere how can using a set of tyres for 3 laps in qualifying possibly hurt someones chances in the race?
Each team is issued a certain number of sets of the hard and soft tires and each driver must use both compunds for at least one lap during the race. The tires themselves supposedly have, more or less, 1-2 "golden" laps in them. Once those laps are used, they don't have their full potential in terms of grip anymore. So if any one driver uses all his new tires of either particular compound before the race starts, he will have to reuse at least one set of the already worn tires in the race at some point. The driver will suffer from less grip because the tires have already been worn. Mark
But if you can gain 1 position on the grid grom the super grip in those few laps, the reward will be not being stuck behind an extra car and in qualifying you have clean shots at lap times, unlike the race. I would rather use 5 laps of a set of tires and gain 1 place on the grid rather than being stuck behind a car for 20 laps during the race. I think the commentators were just talking to fill the airtime. A lot of what they say doesn't have real bearing on the race and no true insights are called down. Yes chewing tires is a bad thing but when you compare that to gaining grid positions, it's worth the risk.