Is McLaren really off the pace?

[speedsense]

BTW, I saw a picture of the RedBull (Vettel) and the front wings were almost touching the ground and the plank looked like it was on the ground...I'll try to find it again..... sounds just like last year..eh?

[raymondu999]

Red Bull had by far the most downforce last year yet were not the kindest to their tyres. I suspect similar this year.

Not the kindest, maybe. We have no ultimate way of knowing who's kindest. But very kind. Remember Vettel-Monza and Webber-Hungary?

[myurr]

Yup, they had races where they did well from a durability point of view, but overall throughout the season I would have placed McLaren and Ferrari ahead of them in terms of tyre durability. Red Bull seemed to have a couple of occasions where they suffered, particularly when the temperatures rose.

[raymondu999]

I can't really remember any such situations right now I'm afraid. Care to refresh my memory? I only remember they were very hard in 2009 on the tyres, but not in 2010

[myurr]

It wasn't horrific, but they definitely lost a little bit towards the end of the stints, particularly in the first half of the year. For example: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsp ... 629477.stm

Of the top cars, the Red Bull was taking the most out of its tyres, the Ferrari was by far the kindest. One McLaren - Jenson Button's - was almost as good as the Ferrari in its tyre usage; Lewis Hamilton's car was almost as bad as the Red Bulls.

That was one specific example, but for me it was more an abiding memory that Red Bull's race pace had to be more controlled so as to not wear out the tyres, hence McLaren and Ferrari catching them relative to qualifying, and that their tyres tended to be the first ones to go off.

Canada is another race where their car seemed to be much harder on the tyres, albeit in extenuating circumstances.

[i70q7m7ghw]

Told you guys that copying pays off big time!

Yeah it worked really really well for Ferrari as well /endsarcasm

[raymondu999]

I don't get your point. In Canada they ran similar (although reversed) strategies to McLaren/Ferrari. It wasn't harder. Or at least not clearly so. Also, Hamashima was talking about testing. Which we know that last year, Red Bull were concentrating on heavy fuel runs. Which would also affect tyre wear.

[myurr]

In the first stint they burnt through their hard tyres in only a lap or two longer than the soft tyres, and they never really recovered.

Hamashima was talking about tyre use after qualifying in China, so it was also an opinion based on a couple of races.

[raymondu999]

It was 5 actually. And all the runners on the prime tyres also came in around that time too. And all things considered, it was 7 laps vs 12 laps on the soft tyres. Almost twice as long.

[myurr]

So they had great wear rates and won the race?

Either way we're not going to agree, so let's just watch the race tomorrow and see what happens (although I'll caveat that with saying that one race does not make a season, and it is unusually cold in Australia).

[CHT]

Does anybody know how many sets of option tyres did Mclaren use throughout the qualifying?

Three, I believe. One in Q2, two in Q3.

then I think mclaren could suffer with some degrading issue during the race.

[myurr]

Does anybody know how many sets of option tyres did Mclaren use throughout the qualifying?

Three, I believe. One in Q2, two in Q3.

then I think mclaren could suffer with some degrading issue during the race.

And why is that exactly? They'll start the race on the soft tyres they set their fastest Q3 laps on and then run the hards in their other stints. Red Bull used 4 sets of softs, although one set only had two installation laps due to yellow flags, and Ferrari used 4 full sets.

McLaren's long run pace has looked good all weekend and Button is predicting that they'll close the gap with Red Bull and may even be able to have a shot at the win.

[CHT]

And why is that exactly? They'll start the race on the soft tyres they set their fastest Q3 laps on and then run the hards in their other stints. Red Bull used 4 sets of softs, although one set only had two installation laps due to yellow flags, and Ferrari used 4 full sets.

McLaren's long run pace has looked good all weekend and Button is predicting that they'll close the gap with Red Bull and may even be able to have a shot at the win.

If you use too many tyres in qualifying to get up the grid, you are going to be penalised in the race," he said. "Because you will then have to use used tyres all the time.

"The guys who find the right balance between what they use in qualifying and what they use in the race will be the strongest. It is not necessarily good to be on pole position if you have used lots of tyres to get there."

He added: "Where it will accumulate is the end of the race. If you come in early you are going to be much faster on new tyres, but how many times can you do that? If you are the one who is coming in early then in the end you will stop three or four laps earlier than people at the end of the race, and unless you make another stop at the end of the race you are going to run out of tyres. So it is a very fine balancing act.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/90159

[snowy]

Lewis used a set of prime for his first run in Q3 so he should have some options.

[myurr]

Lewis used a set of prime for his first run in Q3 so he should have some options.

I'm convinced he used the softs on both runs in Q3.