Since rolling resistance is negligible-ish here, straights tend to have more of a cooling effect on tires, because the high speed subjects them to a whole lot of wind. You can see it in the thermal imagery below.trinidefender wrote:2. Temperature from tyre flexing is the middle ground where the tyre sidewall and treat gets heated up directly which then heats up the airmass inside and the rim. This will still hold temperature for a while but as less mass is heated up I.e. Predominantly the sidewall and tread then it loses this heat quicker.
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As they consistently are slower on the straights there is less energy built up in the whole carcass of the tyre. This has multiple effects, largely initial braking performance before the tyre surface can come up to temperature under sustained braking from a high speed zone.
They have been complaining all year of not enough heat in the tyres. It is my belief that the extra straight line speed may help quite a fair bit when it comes to tyre temp and ultimately grip.
The tread rapidly loses heat in normal conditions as the tires are unloaded on corner-exit and then cooled by the breeze.
Conversely, temperature is maintained in the absence of such a breeze after the car slows down and comes to a stop.
Same car, same corner, different speeds, different heat dissipation. (That's a good thing, though, because the alternative is a constant thrashing of the tires and 4,000,000,002 pit stops every race.)
So, if it's difficult for the drivers to work heat into MP4-30's tires, my guess is that setup and/or a lack of downforce is the cause. Otherwise, I completely agree with your comments about how the chassis is most likely compromised due to lack of power.
Ever since the team adopted tea-tray slots, I've had a sneaking suspicion the car might have a problem with diffuser stall.
