Influence of Pirelli tyre pressure on 2017 contenders

[torpor]

The Mercedes engineers worked so hard and invested so much passion, time and money to design such a great piece of tech.
And then comes the fourth-rate backyard tire manufacturer who is overwhelmed by the new regularities again. Will Pirelli need another four years to develop a working tire?

[CBeck113]

The Mercedes engineers worked so hard and invested so much passion, time and money to design such a great piece of tech.
And then comes the fourth-rate backyard tire manufacturer who is overwhelmed by the new regularities again. Will Pirelli need another four years to develop a working tire?

The tire works, ask Ferrari...

[ferkan]

The Mercedes engineers worked so hard and invested so much passion, time and money to design such a great piece of tech.
And then comes the fourth-rate backyard tire manufacturer who is overwhelmed by the new regularities again. Will Pirelli need another four years to develop a working tire?

What do you mean by overhelmed? Tires seem to be quite good. It was always one of the most complex parts of F1 to get, just ask Mercedes *cough 2013 cough*

[diego.liv]

There were rumours that treo teams (very likely Renault and Merc) have Pirelli false downforce levels (higher values) so Pirelli imposed higher tyre pressure. You then saw Pirelli drop PSI points maybe at every venue. This because both teams needed a stronger tyre shoulder (dunno the technical term. The external side of the tyre). You could see Merc losing advantage from Friday (higher PSIs) to Sunday. Yeah the trick suspension indeed could be a massive blow

[hollowBallistix]

How did they validate that the down force levels were false ? Did they just compare it to what other teams were reporting & find it odd that one team was apparently reporting higher levels ?

What if Merc are actually achieving those levels of down force & now a blanket reduction in the tyre pressure will harm them ? Why mandate lower pressures anyway ? They made a massive fuss regarding low pressures for safety grounds last year, so if there's no issue now running them at the high or at the low end, why not just let the teams adjust pressures to extract the best performance from their package providing there's no "safety" concern.

Pirelli are just incompetent.

[WaikeCU]

How did they validate that the down force levels were false ? Did they just compare it to what other teams were reporting & find it odd that one team was apparently reporting higher levels ?

What if Merc are actually achieving those levels of down force & now a blanket reduction in the tyre pressure will harm them ? Why mandate lower pressures anyway ? They made a massive fuss regarding low pressures for safety grounds last year, so if there's no issue now running them at the high or at the low end, why not just let the teams adjust pressures to extract the best performance from their package providing there's no "safety" concern.

Pirelli are just incompetent.

Or just favouring the Italian horse like Toto was kind of insinuating.

[Vanja #66]

Ferrari are, based on corner speeds and performance in mid- and high-speed corners so far, most likely generating more downforce than Mercedes this year. How would lowering the tyre pressures then hurt Mercedes more than it would Ferrari? In other words - how could this be going to Ferrari's advantage?

[mantikos]

Ferrari are, based on corner speeds and performance in mid- and high-speed corners so far, most likely generating more downforce than Mercedes this year. How would lowering the tyre pressures then hurt Mercedes more than it would Ferrari? In other words - how could this be going to Ferrari's advantage?

You know that could just be the result of Ferrari's better grip due to turning the tires on, whereas Merc can't show it's real pace since the tires are never turned on.

[timbo]

You know that could just be the result of Ferrari's better grip due to turning the tires on, whereas Merc can't show it's real pace since the tires are never turned on.

I would expect overheating tires if the pressures are too low. Not the other way around. So far it doesn't seem like Merc is suffering from too much degradation/blistering.

[Vanja #66]

You know that could just be the result of Ferrari's better grip due to turning the tires on, whereas Merc can't show it's real pace since the tires are never turned on.

I know what I asked them and I know my assumption isn't valid... I'm trying to figure out if the two of them understand the same goes for their assumptions...

[zac510]

Fans complained in 2016 that Pirelli put the minimum tyre pressure on their tyres (which was a response to fans complaining that the tyres were getting punctures), now fans complain that they are reducing the tyre pressures unfairly. I don't think Pirelli are incompetent, but they are stuck between a rock and a hard place when it comes to the very prescriptive regulations and pressure from teams and fans.

Minimum pressure aside, the Pirelli tyres have not changed since pre-season so Mercedes really should be able to overcome this. Stop blaming the tyres for the Mercedes car not using the tyres properly.

[hollowBallistix]

Fans complained in 2016 that Pirelli put the minimum tyre pressure on their tyres (which was a response to fans complaining that the tyres were getting punctures), now fans complain that they are reducing the tyre pressures unfairly. I don't think Pirelli are incompetent, but they are stuck between a rock and a hard place when it comes to the very prescriptive regulations and pressure from teams and fans.

Minimum pressure aside, the Pirelli tyres have not changed since pre-season so Mercedes really should be able to overcome this. Stop blaming the tyres for the Mercedes car not using the tyres properly.

If Mercedes developed the car to work around higher tyre pressures which were specified originally by Pirelli, but now they've decided to mandate lower pressures, it's definitely Pirellis' fault.

All they needed to do was widen the pressure window without lowering the upper limit, there's obviously no risk in running higher pressures, so why lower the high point ?

[Big Mangalhit]

How did they validate that the down force levels were false ? Did they just compare it to what other teams were reporting & find it odd that one team was apparently reporting higher levels ?

What if Merc are actually achieving those levels of down force & now a blanket reduction in the tyre pressure will harm them ? Why mandate lower pressures anyway ? They made a massive fuss regarding low pressures for safety grounds last year, so if there's no issue now running them at the high or at the low end, why not just let the teams adjust pressures to extract the best performance from their package providing there's no "safety" concern.

Pirelli are just incompetent.

Jeez I really think you can't grasp the concept of minimum pressure. Mercedes can still choose to run the higher pressure if they want to. If anything they want to pressure pirelli into mandating higher minimum pressure so they can hurt Ferrari which maybe works better with lower pressure. But they are not obliged themselves to run this.

So what you are complaining is that pirelli this year lets teams choose their tyre pressure according to what suits them unlike last year where they were mandating very high pressures with fear of tyre blows and bad reputation. ironically you also seem to want what you are complaining about

[Santozini]

Maybe Ferrari just did a better job then Mercedes with this year's car. Is that so hard to admit? Mercedes has done it for the last 3 years and everyone accepted it, why not giving credit to Ferrari now? It is getting more and more clear that Ferrari has a better package overall.

Tyres are and always will be on of the key factors, and the team that understands them better has a bigger chance of being fast. Mercedes has to work on it now, and unlike the last 3 years, needs to work on it under huge pressure from Ferrari.

Be happy that we have a true fight between 2 huge car manufacturers and stop finding excuses about why Mercedes isn't winning.

[zac510]

If Mercedes developed the car to work around higher tyre pressures...

Well, did they?