AR3-GP wrote: ↑08 Oct 2024, 18:59
Softening the tire range doesn't lead to happy races with more stops. It leads to bad races with tires that cannot be driven on. Tire behavior is not linear. It is not:
C6: 4 laps
C5: 8 laps
C4: 16 laps.
What actually happens is that if a tire cannot be run in its preferred temperature window, it is useless whether that is a soft tire which overheats after 3 laps, or it's a hard tire that has zero pace like Leclerc found in Hungary 2022.
How you make a tire "degrade" is not a trivial science. It's not as simple as just using a "softer compound". If a team can keep the tire in the correct temperature window, the tire will not degrade. This leads to unanticipated outcomes like some teams going longer on a softer tire than others can do on a harder tire.
There's a lot of oversimplification here that leads to misjudged conclusion
All compounds have too small working window, but teams are already used to it. Other than that, softer compounds have lower working window overall, meaning C6 would be even lower than C5, so probably something like 80-110°C
In Monaco, C6 is sorely needed to move C4 as Hard tyre instead of Medium. There's no way anyone would be able to do 77 laps on C4 in anything close to competitive pace. Piastri's C3s started going off at the end even with Lexlerc's granny snail pace... Singapore also needs softer compounds, not to mention Jeddah. Baku was on edge this year, Piastri slowed the pace down to defend on main straight.
As for degradation, thermal deg depends on working window, if you keep them too hot they drop out. Too cold and you have no grip and little wear, but then you might get graining etc. A short stint on Hards is a thing only when you can't heat them up, which is improved if C6 is used as Soft and C4 as Hard in any case. Mechanical wear is still a thing with Pirellis, just ask Russell. Softer tyres will wear out quicker, even if they are kept in perfect window and you don't push the too hard. So a new, softer, compound is just what we need
