Pirelli's poor consistancy a reflection of their road tires?

[G-Rock]

It's been interesting to note that the massive differences in tire degration, grip and overall consistancy may reflect badly on a potential Pirelli's buyers decisions to purchase a road tire. It would for me.

If I were to re-tire my 911, I would take a Bridgetone vs a mickymouse Pirelli anyday. The Bridgetone years brought some awsome displays of dominance and professionalism that will stick in my mind for years to come. What's Pirellis legacy going to be? The manufacturer that made one tire that was 2 sec/lap slower than the tire, just to increase the amount of passes per race? It really cheapens the sport and the tire manufacturers image in my opinion.

I also still remember the Bridgetone vs Michelin wars and how badly they made Michelin look. Bridgetone, (through competition) came out as the best tire helping Ferrari and Schumi dominate.

It will be interesting to see how Pirelli will spin this new dawn of F1 tire, made not to go fast or last the longest but to artificially spice up the show.

This in my opinion, is not F1's finest year. I hope the gimmickry will stop and get back to some real racing where best car and the best driver wins.

[JohnsonsEvilTwin]

It is no way a reflection of a road car tyre, and with some semblance of intellect, People will know Pirelli road tyres dont go off after 60 miles....
I prefer other makes, but Pirelli is a good tyre. If it wasnt it wouldnt be where it is today.

[WhiteBlue]

G-Rock obviously missed the point that Michelin was clearly the superior tyre supplier at the end of the tyre war. They screwed up in Indianapolis 2005 but that was a singular event which could have been quickly forgotten. They basically shot themselves in the foot by refusing to become a single tyre supplier when the tyre war became too expensive to the teams. People with a memory and some technical understanding will not forget the Michelin dominance.

[Just_a_fan]

Bridgestone as a road tyre choice in the US? Ask Ford what they think of that suggestion...

Pirelli make good road tyres. Will the F1 tyre be any good? Who knows. But using the tyre to control racing is not new - the FIA changed the tyre rules to limit Ferrari a few years ago and I think everyone (other than the tifosi) benefitted from it.

To suggest that Bridgestone road tyres are superior because of a period of non-competitive F1 tyre supply seems to be, at best, a little naive.

In effect, Pirelli now find themselves in the same position that Bridgestone has recently been in - they can make the tyre to suit their requirements (their requirements being those of their client, the FIA in reality). If this means slightly slower lap times but better racing then great. If it means that there is no racing because everyone goes in to tyre-save mode on lap 2 then "not great".

Time will tell.

[roost89]

I'd like to add, the increase in degradation is what the audience and the rule-makers wanted. So they're fulfilling their brief.

Having not built an F1 tyre for an extended period of time, I'd imagine it would take them quite a period of time to get up to speed. With most teams and drivers saying that there was an improvement in the tyres from the Abu Dhabi test, at the end of the year, to the recent tests. And Pirelli saying that they're still improving the tyre.

Will it affect the view of their road tyres? Yes, most probably in a good way as they're still what's on the winning car and that's the bit that matters.

I'd also not like to use foresight and predict how a tyre will react when we've not seen the final product.

[RacingManiac]

Its just a generally bad deal for anyone to step up into Bridgestone's shoe right now. The fan and FIA wants a less durable tire so Pirelli is giving them what they want. The driver will not mention the tires when they do well, but you will sure hear about it when they have issues with them....you can't win...

[ecapox]

Those who complain about the tires are in one of two camps:

1. They cannot manage their tire usage and are too agressive with their driving.
2. Have a car that is tough on the tires.

One or both of the above are true for the complainers.

[G-Rock]

WhiteBlue,
While Michelin did win the WC in 05, the failures at Indy were a huge detriment to their image in the US (not to mention to F1's image as well)

The fact remains that Bridgetone made mincemeat of Michelin during the rest of the tire wars.

F1 is about image. If you win, it can work for you and if you lose if would have to work against right?

Also, I predict that if this season becomes too gimicky than it could only hurt Pirellis image.

Roost 89 said that the fans wanted an increase in tire degradation. What? They never asked me. Where did they get this notion from? Did Bernie do a poll or something?

We have to be careful with F1. Pretty soon it will turn into some Ken Block type drifting fantasy sport with adjustable do-dahs and push buttons for everything...hey wait I have a better analogy. It could be like what that "Speed Racer" film portrayed motorsport to be and maybe that's the generation that F1 is catering too..uhgh!

You won't see this guy buying Pirelli's!! =D>

[Richard]

The Pirelli F1 tyre has as much in common with road tyres as Lotus-Renault-Lada F1 car has with a Lada road car.

Mickymouse Porsche can't even compete in F1, perhaps you should trade your 911 for a Lada fitted with Bridgetones?

[Paul]

On the other hands, viewers might think 'wow, those new Pirellis they put on during pit stop are so much faster than used ones, I really should go buy new tyres for my car too!'

[Giblet]

A good bunch of people don't watch motorsport, but know F1 is the pinnacle.

They see an F1 car in a Pirelli ad and the association is made. For the non layman, or outright fan, they will know that their road car Pirellis are a completely different animal as the race tires.

I think they can win image wise unless they screw up so bad they get bad press, ala MichelIndy.

[bhall]

To read the reviews, P Zero Corsas are just about the best production performance tires to be had.

I think what we've seen in testing thus far, like has been said, is simply the result of Pirelli bowing to the fans' desire for more pit stops. In the absence of refueling or a two-stop mandate, having a tire quickly degrade is the only guarantee.

I think we'll see better performance from Pirelli in the warmer summer months.

But, it shouldn't be forgotten that this is awfully new to Pirelli. Expecting them to come out of the gate with perfection would be like expecting HRT or Virgin to win the championship.

[Agenda_Is_Incorrect]

Indy 2005 was a screw up, but other than that in 2005 and 2006 they dominated Bridgestones clearly. And in 03 and 04 they had moments of good performance. Maybe in the US they look bad, but in most of the world Michelin is still considered the best road tire.

As for Pirelli, their road tires are good. Actually, talking about durability, they are mostly way superior to Bridgestones were I'm. Also they are cheaper and on par with the grip. About the racing tires, they are what people are saying, a compromise to attend the demand for better races. Most drivers liked them and they are proving to demand more stops. What's left now is to make them as fast or faster than the Bridgestones, but how can you blame them? They have entered F1 in a short period of time with very limited testing in an old car against a manufacturer that had 4 years in experience supplying tires for everyone in the grid and other many years of participation in F1. Let's give them sometime, though I'm also disappointed that they couldn't do a tire that was straight way faster than control tires being used for 4 years.

[nipo]

Giblet's comment is spot-on. I don't even know why this thread is here... I don't know if it's just me, but it sounds more like G-Rock is ranting about how F1 is turning into a manipulated circus - what's that have to do with the relationship between Pirelli's race and road tyres??

The circus thing does worth discussion but there were many many threads about rule changes and F1 trends before and we need not start another one...

[G-Rock]

Nipo, If I were a tire manufacturer, this would be the year to avoid F1 with all the weird rule changes. KERS is back, instead of a front adjustable wing we now have a rear adjustable wing, they are being forced to make tires of different wear/durability extremes..what's next?

If I were a tire manufacturer right now I would feel like I was being used to spice up the show instead of using F1 for R an D to better improve my companies tires. This R and D would lead to an image that would reflect how well my company competes.

In the 80's, Pirelli, Goodyear, Michelin had free reign to build the best F1 tire they could build and if you had one of those tires on your road car, it meant something..but time will tell. We live in a different time with Facebook, wikipedia, drifting etc. I grew up with Senna/Prost, manual gearboxes, turbos, and hardcore quali sessions so maybe I'm out of touch with todays reality.

Richard leeds,

Maybe Porsche knows that a serious sports car company can better spend their money on a stable more purist form of racing like the ALMS (where a 911 won the WC over Ferrari/BMW btw)