Brought to you by TheJudge13 contributor Mattpt55
Bahrain Tyre Choices
Last year’s GP at Bahrain saw the Soft and Medium Tyre in action. Boringly, the top teams have chosen the exact same tyres for their drivers, unlike Melbourne (unless that was a typo on Mercedes’ part). Excitingly, Ferrari and Mercedes seem to be headed a different direction strategically…
Manor have doubled down on the Medium whilst Toro Rosso, Sauber and Haas drivers have been given some freedom, unlike the borg like drones at the top…
Who said tyres were boring?
Discuss!!
It seems that Ferrari are trying to do the opposite of Mercedes.
It might have worked in Australia if not for the red flag. Can’t wait to see how it all works out in Bahrain.
It struck me that while the media and serial whingers were concentrating on the qualifying nonsense, the real star of the show were the tyres. Adding the extra choice of compound had a much greater effect on the race with different strategies being the order of the day. The red flag did upset things a bit and a very different result looked likely until it happened, penalising those who changed early. It is only the first race and it may end up with all teams coming up with the same strategy but I’m being optimistic and think that we could be in for some upsets where a mid-order team could steal a march on the big boys by getting the choices right.
I reckon the rule change has genuinely benefited F1 a bit and I haven’t said that for a while….
I think you’re only half right…
It’s pretty obvious that the tyre strategy was huge in Australia, but while everyone is talking about the disaster that the new qualifying format was, I feel most people are just missing how much it has affected most teams tyre strategy.
Having teams like Ferrari using two sets of tyres in Q2 shows that they weren’t sure if they’d make it through.
I think the optimal tyre strategy for qualifying (for the top teams) would be something like going through Q1 & Q2 while doing a multiple laps single run (two or three) using the medium hardness available for each GP (soft in Australia) and then having one or two runs on the mandatory softest compound in Q3. Obviously, the slower teams might upset this strategy by running faster tyres in Q1 or Q2, but that looks like the only way to have real tyre freedom for the race.
They are Matt…..Dead fcuking boring.
It’s one aspect of modern F1 that just does not interest me.
And the more Hemberey’s thoughts are published and dissected (which thankfully you haven’t done here 🙂 the less my interest excites.
Tyres – round black things with a hole in the middle. Much like a vinyl recording really, except that at least enjoyment can be taken from listening to recordings.
Don’t wars require two or more fighting each other for supremacy? Tire development used to be as interesting as engine development. Now it’s as exciting as watching grass grow.
Damned if you do,damned if you don’t. The role of the current tyre supplier is a thankless task. I am glad you pointed out that they received very little praise over the weekend. The management and teams have been very quick in the past at pointing out the short comings of the current construction but we are all guilty of following this mob but in reality it’s down to the rules on how the tyre was manufactured and in turn performed. I can talk from experience that if you are on a wrong square of rubber you will be flapping around at best mid field and at worst in a barrier. Those four corners are the single most important bits on a car, without them you don’t stop,start or turn and the engineering that’s in those little black circles is amazing. Without a great tyre then even the greatest driver and car can be made to look pretty average but here is my gripe, lets get back to a tyre war and allow firms to bring their wares.it has a knock on for road users as I still use bridgestone f1’s on my road car. I am guilty for this and I am sure many of you are the same..would I use pirelli even after all the hype of what I have just wrote?….not in a million years,the damage has been done
I really don’t get why any tyre supplier would want to be associated with F1. Pirelli only ever attract attention for their problems, even when they’re the fault of others.
I’ve never heard of anyone buying tyres based on racing pedigree. Folks with sporty cars buy the tyres designed to work best with each model, or if there’s a tyre co + car manufacturer tie up, dealers might recommend a better tyre based on experience.
For normal family cars, everyone I know buys tyres that either were good value or recommended via an independent test. I’ve heard folks joke about deliberately not buying Pirellis – but I bet that was just a joke.
I can’t say the prospect of a tyre war in F1 sounds exciting. Makes me think of dreary days when MSC was winning everything and breaking records in a far less exciting fashion than the current Mercedes dominance.
I agree it’s too soon to have a verdict on the new tyre rules. They may spice things up, but I suspect by Barcelona the teams will have got a better handle on the whole choice thing – so strategies will begin to converge. However what changes or doesn’t in quali will also have an impact, so it may take longer for matters to settle down.
Compared to the tire wars from ’78 to ’83 and ’01 to ’06, it’s an insult to history to call this a war. This tire war is a joke that should have ended long ago, with all the other rediculous regulations.
A tyre war is something that F1 does not need.
mrfill, yes the tyres were but just one of two stars of the show, the other was the red flag, and by the way we have came across each other once again, as they say, its a small world, and by the way do give my best regards to our old buddies over at the other old place for me please.
It’s not about race strategy, it is about car development. Ferrari are bringing more mediums because there are a number of upgrades for the car this weekend and we need a consistent tyre to evaluate them.
Thanks for the annotations Matt. That chart is not easily read otherwise.