McLaren MP4-26 Mercedes

[luca]

Is McLaren going to directly compare Pirellis with Bridgestones?




LOL!

[feynman]

Assuming that's a genuinely timestamped photo, and not another MP4-26 ... really really surprised that they managed to get their hands on a big stash of Bridgestones.

Is McLaren going to directly compare Pirellis with Bridgestones?

Well, that has been their story on tyres from the get-go, to compare and correlate their seasons worth of data on what Bridgestones do in races, to what a Pirelli does, and calibrate.

Hence Paffet doing the young driver test in Abu Dhabi on Bridgestones, then straight away, same driver does the Pirelli test. Paffet is now first back in that same car for the lastest spec Pirellis. The same driver that does most of their simulator donkey work.

... if they are planning to A/B run some Bridgestones round Valencia, and then Pirellis, on an unbroken thread of minimised variables going back to last season, well however it works out, that's really impressively methodical I think.

[luca]

that's really impressively methodical I think.

Yep, I agree with you.
But do the regulations allow testing another brand of tyres?

[myurr]

Yep, I agree with you.
But do the regulations allow testing another brand of tyres?

Wouldn't have thought it'd be explicitly banned - especially as the cars themselves don't have to comply to the rules.

[vall]

that's really impressively methodical I think.

Yep, I agree with you.
But do the regulations allow testing another brand of tyres?

I doubt it

[feynman]

If you'd asked me before I saw that photo, I'd have really doubted it.

I know tests are unscrutineered, and they could probably run a 12C roadcar round the track if they wanted, but still really surprised to see a big pile of 2010 Bridgestones sitting in the pits for a 2011 test.

Even just a contractual point of view, when does the Pirelli single source contract begin. The tyres also belong to the manufacturer not the teams, Bridgestone round them up and take them all back ... amazing to see some in the wild like that, Bridgestone must have obviously OK'd the arrangement (as well as sending some heavy-duty looking enforcers to keep Pirelli techs away from the rubber).

Any other photos of round the back of other teams garages ... anyone else got extra tyres?

[RacingManiac]

That would also muddle up the rubber lay down on the track too wouldn't it....rememeber in the the Michelin v Bridgestone days the the compound were designed to be incompatible...

Seems very strange for both Pirelli and Bridgestone to agree to this...

[feynman]

Yeah after the previous photo-shenanigans,

... until a second source turns up, I'll be over at Google looking for 2010 Valencia test paddock photos.

See you over there.

[Raptor22]

errr no mate, at operating temp, glue is glue and they tend to stick together. The contact patch of a F1 tyre is pretty hot so makes no difference to the adhesion since the heat is the primary energy source that allows the polymers to adhere to each other and the bitumen surface.

[luca]

I found that picture in another forum and there was no source mentioned. So I can't say whether it is real or not.

It does seem kind of weird of Pirelli to agree to this.

[Giblet]

In truth though it's just us mega fans who follow or see pics of testing. Average viewers don't care.

[luca]

The guy who had posted the picture on the other forum admitted it was a fake.

[xv323]

The guy who had posted the picture on the other forum admitted it was a fake.

Ah - I was gonna say before I saw this that perhaps McL have brought along a stash of old used Bridgestones from last season so they can compare wear patterns and tyre degradation between them and the Pirellis

Although now I think about it, the tyres were actually handed back to Bridgestone after each race weren't they? So that's that theory dead in the water...

[dimensi]

sorry wrong post

[forty-two]

Does anyone have any images of the car McLaren are using at the test?

I know it was supposedly "mostly" an MP4-25, but I understood that it would be SLIGHTLY different, with some 2011 spec parts fitted.