Just_a_fan wrote:Pirelli have done exactly what they were asked to do by the FIA/FOM/the teams. Sadly Pirelli get the blame - I don't understand why they don't just build some indestructible tyres and say "there you are, race those". And then walk away at the end of their contract.
Whether one agree with the premise or not, I think everyone understands that Pirelli has been given a remit to produce tires with certain characteristics that "spice up" the racing. The problem is that no one seems to understand the consequences of doing so, least of all Pirelli.
Remember this?
Paul Hembery wrote:We know that it's clearly wear-related, it's basically tearing of the tyres in some cases, certainly the super-soft and to an extent the softer tyre have not had the strength that we needed.
Ya think?
Plus, they've required an unprecedented level of regulatory coddling, as the incoming usage restrictions don't mark the first time Pirelli has needed teams to compromise setup in order to protect the tires...
Fair enough. It was their first year in the sport, and they needed to get their feet wet.
Wait, what? Did someone forget what "only" means?
The rain tires are a joke...
Autosport, March 29, 2014 wrote:"Not only have we lost 20-30 per cent downforce due to the regulation, they also give us the hardest compound available," Sutil told AUTOSPORT.
"They've made the tyres harder, they've got rid of the downforce and now we have no grip. And in the rain you have no grip anyway and a bad rain tyre.
"It's all over the place. It's not only us, you can see the on-board [videos] of other cars; it's like rally driving."
Williams driver Felipe Massa agreed with Sutil's assessment and reckons Pirelli should revise its compounds.
"I don't like them as well," he told AUTOSPORT. "You go out on the first lap and it's the best, then you get slower because you lose grip.
"The degradation in the wet, the way the wet behaves, is not good."
BBC wrote: "They're not great tyres. That's no secret," said Mercedes' Hamilton.
And after a series of failures in 2013, when it became obvious to everyone that something was wrong with the tires, Pirelli refused to avail itself of the power to unilaterally force a change in specification, because it would have required them to take a PR hit and admit that delaminations are unsafe...
JAonF1 wrote:Pirelli had wanted to introduce a revised specification of tyre at [the 2013 British GP], but refused to press for it on safety grounds. As a result, the teams were not able to reach a unanimous decision to approve the new tyres.
Before I knew that there are minimum starting pressures, I was ready to give Pirelli a pass for this latest round of mishaps, because I understand that teams can and will do dumb --- if they think it will provide an advantage...
BBC wrote:The manufacturer said, in its first statement, that all the failures [at the 2013 British GP] happened on cars with the rear tyres mounted on opposite sides of the car from the one intended.
This has become common practice this season as teams try to manage usage of tyres that have been designed to wear out quickly to guarantee races with multiple pit stops.
Pirelli was aware of the practice but has now admitted it "underestimated" the effect it could have and admitted it "did not forbid" it.
[quote="
crash.net, "Newey admits Spa [2011] was 'scariest race'""]"Pirelli were telling us after qualifying that our tyres were very marginal and they wouldn't say whether it was after half a lap or five laps, but they were going to fail," Newey, who was part of the Williams team during the fateful Imola weekend in 1994, revealed to BBC Sport after the race, "I have to say it was one of the scariest races I've been involved in, it was heart-in-the-mouth stuff, as first and foremost our duty of care is to the driver safety. Trying to make that call in making sure the car was safe, while not handicapping ourselves from a performance point of view, was quite a difficult judgement to make. Frankly, at the end of the race, I was very relieved that both our drivers were safe."
Newey explained that deviating slightly from Pirelli's recommended camber settings may have led to blisters appearing on the inside shoulder of the RB7's front tyres, and admitted that, had the team known of the outcome, would probably not have followed that route. When the FIA refused the request for fresh tyres, RBR was left with the choice of changing the camber settings, which would have forced the team to start from the pit-lane, or increase tyre pressure and go for an early pit-stop. Naturally, with Vettel and Webber first and third on the grid, they went for the second option, with Webber stopping on lap three and Vettel on lap five. They eventually came home first and second, with the German extending his championship lead over Webber and the rest of the field. [/quote]
But when you have enforced minimum starting pressures and camber angles, along with longevity guidelines, the tires need to meet expectations, and there are only so many times you can blame "cuts."
It would probably be pretty easy to look past any one of these issues in isolation, because we all know that nothing is perfect. But, this stuff just keeps going on and on and on and on and on...