F1 2006 tyres

[Teflonso]

Hey guys. I have just started watching the 2006 season but i can not tell is the tyres hard or soft. Is there a mark on them or a website i can look? Thanks

[bananapeel23]

My ubderstanding is there were no ”soft” or ”hard” tyres. Michelin and Bridgestone were in a development war, and had a huge range of tyres they could bring to any weekend.

Essentially they would have a race tyre and a quali tyre, because they didn’t need a soft and hard because the tyres were so good.

The ”run 2 compounds” rule was made to mandate pit stops, while pit stops were unavoidable in 2006 anyway due to the fact that the cars couldn’t complete a race without refueling.

Modern F1 tyres intentionally suck to make tyre changes strategic. That wasn’t an issue in 2006 when they had refueling, thus the suppliers were allowed to develop incredible tyres.

[Just_a_fan]

My ubderstanding is there were no ”soft” or ”hard” tyres. Michelin and Bridgestone were in a development war, and had a huge range of tyres they could bring to any weekend.

Essentially they would have a race tyre and a quali tyre, because they didn’t need a soft and hard because the tyres were so good.

The ”run 2 compounds” rule was made to mandate pit stops, while pit stops were unavoidable in 2006 anyway due to the fact that the cars couldn’t complete a race without refueling.

Modern F1 tyres intentionally suck to make tyre changes strategic. That wasn’t an issue in 2006 when they had refueling, thus the suppliers were allowed to develop incredible tyres.

The 2-compound rule was brought in to make the teams run tyres rather than them being taken to races, not used and thrown away. When Bridgestone were bringing "prime" and "option" tyres, the teams would just run the better tyre which meant Bridgestone were making tyres that wouldn't be used. So they forced the teams to use both specifications.

[Teflonso]

My ubderstanding is there were no ”soft” or ”hard” tyres. Michelin and Bridgestone were in a development war, and had a huge range of tyres they could bring to any weekend.

Essentially they would have a race tyre and a quali tyre, because they didn’t need a soft and hard because the tyres were so good.

The ”run 2 compounds” rule was made to mandate pit stops, while pit stops were unavoidable in 2006 anyway due to the fact that the cars couldn’t complete a race without refueling.

Modern F1 tyres intentionally suck to make tyre changes strategic. That wasn’t an issue in 2006 when they had refueling, thus the suppliers were allowed to develop incredible tyres.

can i ask one more quastion? in 2006 again, there was a graphic shows how many liter fuel they put to the car during pit-stop. can we say those numbers are 100% correct?

[bananapeel23]

My ubderstanding is there were no ”soft” or ”hard” tyres. Michelin and Bridgestone were in a development war, and had a huge range of tyres they could bring to any weekend.

Essentially they would have a race tyre and a quali tyre, because they didn’t need a soft and hard because the tyres were so good.

The ”run 2 compounds” rule was made to mandate pit stops, while pit stops were unavoidable in 2006 anyway due to the fact that the cars couldn’t complete a race without refueling.

Modern F1 tyres intentionally suck to make tyre changes strategic. That wasn’t an issue in 2006 when they had refueling, thus the suppliers were allowed to develop incredible tyres.

can i ask one more quastion? in 2006 again, there was a graphic shows how many liter fuel they put to the car during pit-stop. can we say those numbers are 100% correct?

I'm not super familiar with the refueling era, so take literally everything I say and have said with a handful of salt.

But my understanding is that the refueling estimates are almost dead on when it comes to how much fuel they just took on, since the amount of fuel you could pump per second was regulated, or at least indirectly limited to some amount which everyone reached. (except for 1994, when Benetton removed a filter which meant they could pump ~10% faster and also set Jos Verstappen on fire)

When it comes to total fuel load, however, it was usually an unknown, since you started with the same amount of fuel that you had in quali. One driver might start with 100kg of fuel, another might start with 10kg. It's very hard to know exactly how much fuel the drivers are carrying, even if you know almost exactly how much they refueled during any given pit stop, since they could be doing a bunch of lift an coast and the different engines burned different amounts of fuel. Total fuel estimates were probably in the right ballpark though.

[f1316]

My ubderstanding is there were no ”soft” or ”hard” tyres. Michelin and Bridgestone were in a development war, and had a huge range of tyres they could bring to any weekend.

Essentially they would have a race tyre and a quali tyre, because they didn’t need a soft and hard because the tyres were so good.

The ”run 2 compounds” rule was made to mandate pit stops, while pit stops were unavoidable in 2006 anyway due to the fact that the cars couldn’t complete a race without refueling.

Modern F1 tyres intentionally suck to make tyre changes strategic. That wasn’t an issue in 2006 when they had refueling, thus the suppliers were allowed to develop incredible tyres.

can i ask one more quastion? in 2006 again, there was a graphic shows how many liter fuel they put to the car during pit-stop. can we say those numbers are 100% correct?

I'm not super familiar with the refueling era, so take literally everything I say and have said with a handful of salt.

But my understanding is that the refueling estimates are almost dead on when it comes to how much fuel they just took on, since the amount of fuel you could pump per second was regulated, or at least indirectly limited to some amount which everyone reached. (except for 1994, when Benetton removed a filter which meant they could pump ~10% faster and also set Jos Verstappen on fire)

When it comes to total fuel load, however, it was usually an unknown, since you started with the same amount of fuel that you had in quali. One driver might start with 100kg of fuel, another might start with 10kg. It's very hard to know exactly how much fuel the drivers are carrying, even if you know almost exactly how much they refueled during any given pit stop, since they could be doing a bunch of lift an coast and the different engines burned different amounts of fuel. Total fuel estimates were probably in the right ballpark though.

I’m pretty sure this was a tv graphic which estimated the fuel given (a) the rate at which fuel could flow into the car was known and according to a spec piece of equipment (the refuelling rigs were supplied by the FIA) (b) the stopwatch on how long the car was stationary/fuel hose attached. In principle it (b) was correct, then these would be accurate. However, I don’t think the timing was an exact science (ie based on a human input not a sensor on the rig) so was not always perfect. Good enough for tv graphics of the era though.

Btw: enjoy the season - it was a classic!

[Andi76]

Hey guys. I have just started watching the 2006 season but i can not tell is the tyres hard or soft. Is there a mark on them or a website i can look? Thanks

I can explain the whole thing to you. As you know, it was a tire war between Michelin and Bridgestone. Each manufacturer could tailor the tires for each car and team and new compounds and constructions were brought to almost every race (in most cases, however, there were "only" two different constructions). Some time in advance of each race teams were given a selection of tyre specifications from which to choose. From this choice they would select two specifications to take to the event, each of which would be tried on Friday. The rules stipulated that from Saturday onwards only one tyre specification could be used. So Friday would typically be spent trying to get the necessary durability from the tyre that was faster over one lap. The combination of having to make the tyre selection in advance with the very narrow track temperature window of these tyres meant that both companies tended to formulate tyres for specific track temperature ranges. The tires were divided into prime (hard) and option (soft) and there were usually two compounds of each available, in some cases, however, the manufacturers even brought three different Prime and Option compounds to the track so that there were sometimes six or even seven different tyre conpounds the teams can choose from.

Regarding the display of how much each team had filled up - the refueling systems provided 12 liters/sec. So of course you could say that if the fuel nozzle was on for 6 seconds, 72 liters were filled up, which corresponded to 21 laps on this or that track, for example. It wasn't 100% accurate, of course, but usually 95%.

This should answer all your questions, I hope.

To give you some more context about this faszinating time and the tires - Michelin have been using radial tires since 2001 (and even back in the 80s), which allowed for a more flexible sidewall and softer rubber compounds (due to cooler tread temperatures, which I can explain if needed) and had advantages in braking, traction and chemical grip as well as mileage, while Bridgestone always used an amalgam of radial and cross-ply tires with a stiffer sidewall and more ply steer, which had the disadvantage of higher tread temperatures and generally harder compounds, but allowed for higher cornering speeds and better mechanical grip, vehicle stability, agility and turn-in performance. Fundamentally different philosophies. 2006 saw Bridgestone move more towards the Michelin philosophy, with more flexible sidewalls, a development that had begun in late 2004, although Bridgestone still retained slightly stiffer sidewalls than Michelin.

To give you an idea of the scope of the development - Michelin started the year with the F15/R18 construction, in Brazil they were at F25/R31, which meant 10 different constructions at the front and 13 at the rear. But this number looks even lower than it actually was, because each team requested slightly different variations of these "main constructions" to suit their weight distribution, aerodynamics and driving style of the driver, which meant that they had to adapt these main constructions at least 6 times (teams) and a maximum of 12 times (drivers), which meant 60 to 120 front tire constructions and 78 to 156 rear tire constructions.

[Andi76]

My ubderstanding is there were no ”soft” or ”hard” tyres. Michelin and Bridgestone were in a development war, and had a huge range of tyres they could bring to any weekend.

Essentially they would have a race tyre and a quali tyre, because they didn’t need a soft and hard because the tyres were so good.

The ”run 2 compounds” rule was made to mandate pit stops, while pit stops were unavoidable in 2006 anyway due to the fact that the cars couldn’t complete a race without refueling.

Modern F1 tyres intentionally suck to make tyre changes strategic. That wasn’t an issue in 2006 when they had refueling, thus the suppliers were allowed to develop incredible tyres.

There were hard and soft tyres called "Prime" and "Option". Qualifying tyres were a thing of the 80's tire war. In the 00's there were no Qualifying-Tyres as you had to use the same tires in Quali and Race.

The fact that the tires were so good back then was certainly due to the development, but also to the manufacturers Bridgestone and Michelin, as well as Goodyear in the tire war of 1997/1998... Bridgestone, Michelin and Goodyear are in a different league to Pirelli, as you could see in the 80s and 90s, when Pirelli were always miles away from Michelin and Goodyear.