The Changes For 2011 (Part 4 of 4): Pirelli
Bridgestone’s departure as Formula One’s sole tyre supplier at the end of the 2010 Formula One World Championship season provided Pirelli, one of the world’s most successful tyre manufacturers, the opportunity to showcase their engineering prowess to a consistent audience of over six hundred million people around the world. However, with great demand comes great expectation and Pirelli have shown that whilst their tyres may indeed increase the rate of on-track action, lap records seem to be secure and one (even two) stop strategies look to be a thing of the past. Well, for the next three years at least.
Pre-season testing in Spain threw up numerous different views of the pecking order for the beginning of the 2011 season, with Red Bull, Ferrari, Mercedes, Williams and Sauber all having recorded at least one fastest lap for a day. Conditions themselves ranged from crisp in the morning to torrential downpour in the afternoons. Drivers, as well, have gone from one-of-the-fastest to one-of-the-slowest in less than twenty four hours. Amongst the myriad of fluctuating results, however, there has been a consistency in one claim: Pirelli haven’t supplied compounds that can maintain performance over more than two laps. On a number of occasions, drivers’ fastest laps were set at the beginning of a stint, with consistent fall-off in lap times as runs continued. With lap times increasing exponentially as stints continue, now more than ever it is vital for teams to perfect stint lengths and qualifying runs.
To avoid overwhelming degradation rates, Pirelli’s “hard” compound was designed to withstand the demands of Formula One. However, the advantage of resilience over the softer compounds has been negated due to immense lap time disadvantages, with some suggesting lap times can be over three seconds a lap slower than the soft compound, in a single lap. With a soft compound that can lose as much as two seconds in a single lap (Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso boldly suggesting a disadvantage of six seconds per lap in certain scenarios); teams and drivers who can accurately identify when the optimum time to exchange the worn set for a fresh set of rubber will reap the rewards of precise tactical decisions like never before.
Since testing commenced at the beginning of the year, a number of drivers and team personnel have voiced their criticisms towards the inability of the Pirelli tyres to withstand the demands of Formula One. Most notably, reigning World Champion Sebastian Vettel suggested that three-stop strategies will be the absolute minimum per race in 2011. Although not denying the likelihood of the German’s suggestion, Pirelli have come out and denied any possibility of 5-stop strategies being forced upon teams – a rumour that had begun to float around the paddock. It does appear that an exceptional number of stops will be definite during the season, in comparison to the norm of previous years. Disappointingly, the net result of such a radical change in tyre strength is that drivers will focus more on conservation of their tyres, rather than out-and-out lap times.
In qualifying especially, the Pirelli’s will show their biggest weaknesses. With tyre degradation rates as high as they are, drivers get but one opportunity to set a hot lap. Where Bridgestone supplied tyres that provided a comfort zone in qualifying – allowing drivers to have several attempts at a hot lap in qualifying – the 2011 tyres will allow only a single attempt in most sessions. Where teams lower in the order will have the ability to use two sets in the early sessions, the restricted supply of session-to-session tyres has almost-definitely resulted in third qualifying session-competing teams only being able to attempt a single lap in each session. Should drivers require two attempts in Q1 or Q2, the tyres will simply not have the competitiveness in Q3 to fight for anywhere but 10th position on the grid. Simply put, qualifying in 2011 is set to be less-exciting than in previous years, with drivers who are more-able to set a single, fast hot-lap out-of-the-box being more-greatly rewarded than they had necessarily been in previous years.
Pirelli’s return to Formula One was never going to provide a greater level of competitiveness than Bridgestone could offer. Lap records weren’t going to be broken. Mechanical grip provided by tyres wasn’t ever going to be greater. The negatives were always going to outshine the positives in the eyes of the mainstream, conservative media. Sheer competitiveness has been replaced by the potential of what many applaud one day and later criticise, simply because of the reduction of out-and-out lap time speed. But the question has to be put to the viewers: Are lap times more important to you than excitement? Are they more important than a show?
Credit: The F1 Times (www.thef1times.com)
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