How do drivers "Manage" tyres

[stu112]

You always hear about drivers having to manage their tires, so they dont wear too quick so that they can complete the planned number of laps for that stint etc. I was just wondering how they go about doing this. I imagine that trying not to lock them is one obvious way (although one doesn't want to be locking tires regardless). Another obvious one is in the acceleration zones.......keep wheel spin down to a minimum. Also trying not to slide the car round the corners would help. But what other things can a driver do to save the tires? Do things like the (steering) angle of attack make a difference - turning in early and gently, rather than turning in late and hard, therefor stopping the tires scrubbing across the the surface of the track so much? Anyway it would be good to know the different techniques involved

[WhiteBlue]

During testing it was said that the Pirellis change the balance every lap as the rear tyres go off incredibly fast. The trick apparently is to be able to drive with variable balance and change your line progressively to accommodate just the right amount of over steer. As you say the driver also has to get on the power very carefully to have the least amount of rear wheel spin with the most traction that he can get under variable conditions.

[stu112]

During testing it was said that the Pirellis change the balance every lap as the rear tyres go off incredibly fast. The trick apparently is to be able to drive with variable balance and change your line progressively to accommodate just the right amount of over steer. As you say the driver also has to get on the power very carefully to have the least amount of rear wheel spin with the most traction that he can get under variable conditions.

Ok so what you are saying is that they try to balance the car differently over the course of a lap/race (basically mix it up lol)? Would this help towards wearing the tires evenly?

Also does what i said about not being aggressive on turn in (turn early and gently and not late a hard to stop the tyres scrubbing across the surface) sit true or does it not matter? I guess trying not aggressively brake would help and maybe not turning and accelerating/braking at the same time maybe do something to help. I dunno lol, thats what im trying to learn. Thanks for reply

[Sayshina]

Also does what i said about not being aggressive on turn in (turn early and gently and not late a hard to stop the tyres scrubbing across the surface) sit true or does it not matter? I guess trying not aggressively brake would help and maybe not turning and accelerating/braking at the same time maybe do something to help. I dunno lol, thats what im trying to learn. Thanks for reply

Well, my experience is with very different machines, but in said experience no, not really. You COULD save your tires by doing those things, but you'd be so slow it wouldn't matter.

Mostly you just try to be more deliberate. You drive like you're on ice, but since you're racing you still need to be as fast as you can as many places as you can. You're not so much braking earlier and softer as you are taking an extra couple of hundredth's to get to peak braking. You're turning in mostly the same, just being a little less sudden with the movement of the wheel.

Does that make sense? It's not about big things like you're thinking, it's more about tiny things that nobody else could see. Even watching the driver on camera you can't see the wheel move slower or not as far, you can't tell if he's trying to save his tires.

The other thing you can sometimes do is change your line in the middle corners of a series. You have to take the entrance and exit to the series pretty much the same as always, but the corners inside the series are much less important.

[stu112]

Also does what i said about not being aggressive on turn in (turn early and gently and not late a hard to stop the tyres scrubbing across the surface) sit true or does it not matter? I guess trying not aggressively brake would help and maybe not turning and accelerating/braking at the same time maybe do something to help. I dunno lol, thats what im trying to learn. Thanks for reply

Well, my experience is with very different machines, but in said experience no, not really. You COULD save your tires by doing those things, but you'd be so slow it wouldn't matter.

Mostly you just try to be more deliberate. You drive like you're on ice, but since you're racing you still need to be as fast as you can as many places as you can. You're not so much braking earlier and softer as you are taking an extra couple of hundredth's to get to peak braking. You're turning in mostly the same, just being a little less sudden with the movement of the wheel.

Does that make sense? It's not about big things like you're thinking, it's more about tiny things that nobody else could see. Even watching the driver on camera you can't see the wheel move slower or not as far, you can't tell if he's trying to save his tires.

The other thing you can sometimes do is change your line in the middle corners of a series. You have to take the entrance and exit to the series pretty much the same as always, but the corners inside the series are much less important.

Ok thanks.......understood . I actually saw a really good example of what you mean today. While watching the quali today, they showed an onboard clip of Perez in practice and they were showing you how he was easy on his tires by the way he drove. You could actually see how much more he was being gentle and smooth with the steering than a lot of other drivers. Also saying "driving like you're on ice" gave me a better idea of what you mean........just be extra smooth with steering, dont be 'choppy' and be slightly more progressive with throttle and breaking.

[wrigs]

All the knobs and dials on the steering wheel play a huge role as well. The drivers are able to adjust entry, mid-corner and exit balance by adjusting the differential settings. They can switch to a different throttle map (or torque maps), which can allow them to feed the throttle in much more progressively. There's fuel maps, brake-bias setting and, I'm sure, a lot of other options that vary from car to car.

It's not very easy to simply go slower on command as a driver, because it means you have to adjust all of your reference points accordingly. Changing the effect of a certain driver input is a more consistent way of dialing down the tempo than simply changing the driver input radically.

[Sayshina]

All the knobs and dials ....

It's not very easy to simply go slower on command as a driver,.... changing the driver input radically.

It's not at all easy to go slower, and we've seen lots of examples of drivers, not always rookies either, who have met the wall trying to go slower. Also, the stuff I raced way back in the archaic '80's didn't have much in the way of onboard adjustment, so I don't have direct experience with such.

However, turning performance is by far the biggest adjustment you need to make, and while you could fiddle with diff. adjustments to how you handle the wheel are still going to be the biggest influence. It'd be nice to dial back accelleration a bit out of slow corners, but they're probably doing that all the time anyway. And once you're around 2/3 through 2nd. gear you're going to want max power. You really can't do much about braking without either losing massive chunks of time or causing increased tire wear.

I didn't see the video the OP is talking about, so I can't really comment, other than to mention I'm a bit surprised he could notice a change, as normally it's very subtle. It could possibly be his discerning eye though, or perhaps they used visual aids to make it more noticable.

I should note though that there's a huge difference between being smooth and being slow. What I'm talking about is being as smooth as possible, which is often faster. It's also exhausting though, which is why very few people can keep it up for long. The Marines have a saying: "Slow is smooth, smooth is fast".

[marcush.]

Managing the tyres.
some drivers are better than others driving very close to the limit of adhesion without ever going over this limit.
Those will inevitably get more life out of them as the tyre has the same grip a with a little less slip(angle) AND a little more slip(angle).The difference is simply the heat you are generating.The guy who does not feel he´s always asking a bit too much from the tyre will build up heat in the tyre-wearing them out -tyres don´t like heat- the guy who is erring on the less slip angle side will generate less heat and potentially has the same grip available but his tyres will last a lot longer.

In recent years ,with tyres haviung the capacity to go the whole distance ,driving over the peak is not really punished instantly .so a lot of the drivers tried harder and harder to extract more of the rubber.Nursing them was of no consequence or helpful .But this all is only possible when your machine has a good balance.The instant your car shows a uncurable tendency to understeer or oversteer -you will always demand too much of the weaker axle whereas the other axle might have a lot more potential grip.With a bad balance managing the tyres will inevitably be slow.

[marekk]

Precise driving just on the edge is most important IMO.
Quick reaction times when over the edge, so keeping correction inputs as small as possible.

[raymondu999]

I think most people would agree that driving just under, or at the limit, will preserve the tyres much better than if they're driven over the limit.

[Ciro Pabón]

There is only one advice to conserve tyres. It is a secret passed from generation to generation of racing drivers. Now, for the first time in history is yours to enjoy. Listen carefully, because I won't repeat it. There you go, the secret is:

- Drive slow

This means you take mid apex instead of late apex, you move your braking points 10 meters to brake less hard and you go 10 kph slower on curves.

All the talk about smoothness is smooth talk. Being too smooth is counterproductive, as you won't heat your tyres enough and they will degrade faster when you ask too much from them. Believe me, I know.

In the end, what affects tyre wear?

1. Weight. It is the bigger factor. Downforce comes in play here. You give some downforce to conserve tyres, so you go slower on curves, so, in the end, you take mid apex instead of late apex to diminish peak load. You have to decide this in advance: more speed in the straight vs more speed in the curves. The former will give you less tyre wear.

2. Toe. Big factor. Many racing cars, specially F1 cars, have a massive rear toe out to make them turn instantly. When you use less toe, you turn slower, which seems to be smooth driving. It's not: as in the previous point, it's something you decide in advance, talking with your mechanic.

3. Brake early (do not drop the anchor at the end of the straight!).

4. Watch the tyres. They change colour when stressed. I don't know well how to explain it, but they become shiny. I think that when they are shiny, they are melting. You see a "band" of "shininess" that displaces from the outer part of the tyre towards the inner rim every time you take a curve. Try different racing lines and check the colour vs the lap time. If you can get the same lap time with less shiny tyres, you're on the correct path.

5. Race in a bike. Bike tyres last one lap (I'm joking here) so if you can learn to conserve bike tyres, car tyres will be an easy ride.

Smoothness... well, you always try to be smooth. The smoother, the faster. Feather the throttle, brake with your toe instead of with your whole foot to feel better the force and have more control... the usual.

You do it all the time, don't you? This means that smoothness is always there, there is no way to be extra smooth when you want to conserve tyres (if there is a way, then you're doing things wrong when being rough, so the question would be: why?).

[raymondu999]

Wouldn't a late apex give you more speed in the straight? And more speed would be carried by mid apex?

[BreezyRacer]

You have to understand that every tire is a little different in how it responds but one big area where you try to manage tires is in controlling the first lap's use of the tire or when you use tires more than once, (as in the races we're seeing now) the first heat cycle on the tires.

If a compound is too soft or shears too mach you can often improve the tire by breaking it in more gradually and then letting the tires cool overnight. This has the effect of "curing" the compound further, similar to leaving the tire in the mold longer. Curing a tire during it's construction is a bit of a delicate process and if not done consistently large variations in tire "quality" can appear. By scrubbing in tires you generally get them more consistent and longer lasting.

But as I stated above, every tire is different and the drivers are now wondering if there is anything to be gained in trying to "save" these Pirellis. We'll have to see ..

[Sayshina]

You can't just "go slower". If you try that at all you're suddenly massively slower, and very prone to crashing. You do see drivers doing that, usually late in a race once it's settled out and there's no longer any chance of gaining or losing a place. And you do see drivers, even top drivers, crashing out when they try it.

It's much more subtle than that, but to be fair you are sortof trying to do it a little.