zibby43 wrote: ↑09 Aug 2020, 20:46
aral wrote: ↑09 Aug 2020, 19:34
dans79 wrote: ↑09 Aug 2020, 19:31
In my opinion, Merc failed today, because they put too much emphasis on going as fast as possible. They had the car set up accordingly as could be seen by their qualifying advantage. If they had instead optimized for stint length and taking care of the tires the qualifying gap would have been much smaller but they would have not had the problems they had during the race.
Are you saying that merc were overstraining their cars and that they are not as fast as the Red Bull? The RB was going everybit as fast but was not being overdriven so as to destroy its tyres.
It's not a matter of over-driving. Or tire degradation. It was a matter of blistering today.
Blistering occurs when a tire overheats. The excess heat causes the tread to soften, and then it starts to break away.
What factors can cause overheating? Several, but 2 of the most important are: 1) over-inflation and 2) high track temperatures. The third factor is how much the car is asking from the tires, and the Merc demands a lot due to the downforce it generates, but it is a very well-sorted car on the suspension front, which is why, the vast majority of the time since '19, Merc has had class-leading tire wear.
I also don't think there is anything Mercedes could've done in qualifying to make themselves slower in qualifying, and subsequently faster in the race. Those setup choices and the trade off between race and quali pace are more relevant when it comes to degradation, not an anomaly like blistering.
Kind of like how Mercedes goes with a low rake concept to be well-rounded and fast at the majority of circuits on the calendar, they design the car/suspension to consistently energize/work with the harder compounds that are used on race day, in a temperature range that best represents most of the calendar.
For whatever reason, the Red Bull struggles to get the best out of their car in the circumstances that apply to the vast majority of races, but on those one-off days when the tires are pumped up to levels approaching the PSI of a 19" road car tire and the track temperatures are 40+ C, the car just suddenly works.
Your concept of how downforce affects tyres is wrong.
More downforce can help tyre life in most situations because the tyre slides less.
RedBullwas actually running more downforce than Mercedes this race. Martin Brundle corroborated this.
On the flipside if that additional downforce is used to take corners at acessive speeds then the tyre will be worked much much harder which can lead to blistering so it is how u use the downforce and how u work / cool the tyres.
Mercedes car probably has a tyre cooling problem or works the tyre differently. Historically their cars always had bad tyre eating habits independent of downforce! It is difficult to say if its aero-related, wheel and brake duct related, or suspension kinematics related because if it were that easy they would have figured it out by now.
