Hot Tires

[MOWOG]

The latest uproar about tires in the sport concerns whether the teams are heating them too much with their tire warmers. Pirelli says the tires should not be heated to more than 110 degrees. (I presume that is Fahrenheit, not Celsius! ) But some in the pit lane claim it is easy to use the warmers to get the tires much hotter than that.

In Korea, we had one shot from a thermal camera of tires going on at a pit stop. The thermal image was bright orange and showed immediate cooling as the stop was completed. So, either the lads are racing with tires that are at 110 degrees or less or the tires we saw on screen were a LOT hotter than that.

Personally, I think tire warmers are ridiculous. One of the highlights of the racing used to be watching how the drivers managed cold tires after a stop. But Formula One disagrees with me, sadly.

Here's the latest:

Pirelli clamps down amid illegal tyre heating claims


Pirelli has clamped down on enforcing the operating guidelines of its tyres, amid rumours some teams were not playing along.

After the tyre-exploding British grand prix this year, the FIA backed Pirelli's move to force teams to stay within certain operating guidelines. The guidelines set strict limits on things like tyre camber and pressures, but also pre-session tyre heating, according to Germany's Auto Motor und Sport.

The report said teams were not allowed to 'boost' temperatures in their respective heating systems beyond 110 degrees for one hour. But a Force India team member is quoted as saying: "The heating systems are easily manipulated. If you boost more than allowed, you have an advantage."

Auto Motor und Sport said Pirelli has reacted by checking pre-running tyre temperatures not only via the heating systems, but also with their own probes.

[Jersey Tom]

110... if that were Fahrenheit that would seem like an extremely low number. 110 C would be 230 F, and I know there are off-the-shelf tire blankets which go up to the 210 F range so that's in the ballpark.

Either way, really the issue is that there is (apparently) considerable performance to be had by going beyond the Pirelli recommended number. That's a tough spot to be in as a race team. Let's say Pirelli recommend and through testing you know 135 is best - what do you do? Set at 110 exactly? (IMO if you do you're crazy) If you're down a bit on performance to your nearest competition... do you do 112? If you think they're setting at 112 too, do you try 115? Edging further and further away from some recommendation to weigh the compromise on performance and a recommendation.

From Pirelli's standpoint, the more things you try to police like that I think the harder time you'll have succeeding. Can't be naive, you've got to know teams are going to extract the maximum reasonable performance they can. I think the only things they can (and should) do are [a] figure out how to put more durability margin into the tires so that even if the teams go past recs you'll be okay, figure out how to design tires that don't force teams to take extreme measures to extract performance.

It just amazes me that the Pirelli F1 lineup is so delicate. I don't recall it being like that with previous suppliers, and I feel like in the grand scheme of things F1 tires should be.. I don't want to say "easy".. but not that immensely challenging to get right after several years. Certainly the average loads and speeds are lower than some other series.

[Steven]

I have already mentioned this in my article about the temperature camera that the tyre temperature appeared higher when cars just left the pits than any other moment on track. Especially on the sidewalls, it was apparent that coming from the pits, those had similar temperatures as the tyre threads, also for the front tyres. I have yet to see any camera image that shows the tyre walls getting equally hot (usually they are not even hot enough to be coloured by the cam).

And indeed, the temps are in °C. Hembery said after monza:
At a track like Monza the temperature range will be from 80-90 deg C at the start, when tyres come out of their blankets.
The surface temperature can then go up to around 130 deg C, in particular at the end of La Roggia.

Obviously, they're a bit hotter than 90 deg C when in the blankets

[hardingfv32]

How is tire performance enhanced by the use of high or long duration tire pre-heating?

Is this an attempt to post cure the tire, making it harder... more durable?

May I assume that there is always a little loss of peak grip level using this technique?

Brian

[MOWOG]

Clearly, I am totally ignorant of the difference between Fahrenheit and Celsius. How embarrassing.

With regard to adjusting the warming blankets to exceed 110 C, I am reminded of the famous line from the movie This Is Spinal Tap, to wit: "Our amplifiers go to 11 !"

[Glyn]

I don't understand why tyres cannot be made which allow you to push like hell.

But after a while, the lap time the tyres bring would make it a better option to pit and push again, rather than stay out. Is this so difficult to make?

[langwadt]

I don't understand why tyres cannot be made which allow you to push like hell.

But after a while, the lap time the tyres bring would make it a better option to pit and push again, rather than stay out. Is this so difficult to make?

apparently it is, though doing it mostly by guessing since they can't do any proper testing is probably not helping ..

[Jersey Tom]

I don't understand why tyres cannot be made which allow you to push like hell.

But after a while, the lap time the tyres bring would make it a better option to pit and push again, rather than stay out. Is this so difficult to make?

Oh it certainly can be done.

[olefud]

I had thought that tire warming was primarily to equalize pressures to that of a tire in temperature equilibrium on the track. Though important, the tread area heat and cools quickly but the tire as a whole including inflation gas heats much slower.

Is this misguided?

[Jersey Tom]

I would say there's [sometimes much] more to pre-heating tires than just stabilizing inflation pressure, yes.

[trinidefender]

Why not have standard tyre warmers that teams are allowed to use with a max heating temp of 110 Celsius. Or just do away with tyre warmers altogether.

[Lycoming]

With the current generation of Pirellis, I'd be very wary of letting them leave the pit lane completely cold to join a track populated by cars on hot tires. doing away with the warmers is probably not the best idea.

[MOWOG]

With the current generation of Pirellis,

I would agree with that statement. But.......Formula One is jumping through hoops trying desperately to make the racing "exciting". We have DRS and rapidly degrading tires. Drivers are required to keep tire and brake temperatures within a fairly narrow range. We have transitioned from the days when "racing" meant driving flat out as long as possible to an age where drivers and teams are required to "manage" all sorts of parameters - most of them artificial. We are told to believe that "strategy" is of paramount concern. THAT'S what the fans (and therefore advertisers) want to see.

Well, two of the traditional things that all race teams had to manage were tire changes and refueling. Both provided dizzying permutations for the teams to consider. Strategy today is a pale reflection of what it used to be.

If cold tires require a few laps to come up to effective temperature, that is just one more consideration to be factored in when planning pit stops. And it's not some artificial parameter meant to "spice up the racing" like DRS.

Yes, prohibiting tire warmers would require different tires. And that might be a very good thing!

[Jersey Tom]

A bit of professional speculation... but I'd bet the current tires going out cold would wear / disintegrate even more than they do as it is. The kind of dusty / powdery wear we have seen at some past races. Pirelli might dislike that even more than having them "too hot."

[turbof1]

I think the tyres would then grain to oblivion. Remember Canada 2010? That but then much worse. Heat blankets make sure the temperature is spread deep into the tyre, instead of just the surface.