strad wrote:OK...I see..YOU think Pirelli tires, in general apparently, are junk so we should all just drop our opinions and join with you on that basis alone? Interesting.
Opinion of a current motorsport professional who knows the subject very well. What more do you want? Incidentally it's an opinion I agree with.
The more important point Ben makes here is to not take these quotes from the "top people" at Pirelli - or
any company for that matter - at face value. Without really a better way to describe it... it's generally a sliver of truth spun into something different. They're (probably) not going to lie outright, but there's also no reason for them to tell the whole story. If you want to know the
real deal, talk to the "grunt" level engineers working on the teams or at the track, or in related positions. I'm not going to disclose the specifics of what I've heard or from whom or what organizations they're with - but again, I agree with Ben's general assessment. I still give Pirelli somewhere between a B and C grade.
Also keep in mind that how well a tire company does their job is NOT just about how the tires perform on track. How well did they prepare the teams before the season? How much data did they make available to the teams for every race? How well did they adapt and serve the teams needs as the season went on?
It really isn't anything to do with "bashing" Pirelli as much as it is the reality of the situation. As far as resources go, Pirelli is small compared to Bridgestone or Michelin. That makes things difficult. They also chose to go into this on a VERY short time table. End result was mediocre IMO. Would have expected a better to be honest, but also not anything astounding given that they had a TON to do in a very short time.
At the end of the day it still boggles me how much racing fans take the comments of the drivers, announcers, and "high level" people at face value. It's really no different than any other industry. For anyone who has worked professionally - particularly in a large organization - consider this: For any given project or event, think about how YOU perceived things (let's call this the reality of the situation), how upper management perceived things, and how upper management then presented things to the public. How often were these three things identical? How often were they significantly different?
Grip is a four letter word. All opinions are my own and not those of current or previous employers.
