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Ferrari Moan about Bridgestone
Topic Started: Aug 14 2008, 06:03 AM (1,079 Views)
Brave_Lee_Flea
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AndyW76,Aug 20 2008
12:50 PM

I 100% agree with you that the current tyre rules are crap, that is what F1 is running to at the moment and all the teams must understand that Bridgestone is catering for the whole field and that to comment that the tyres supplier don't suit their car and to unilaterally criticise tyre choice really isn't fair.

If all the teams felt the same way and were united in their criticism, then I could see their point but that isn't the case here. What we have is Ferrari and Renault criticising bridgestone when the deficiency is in how their car uses the tyre and not the other way round.

I kind of agree. I understand what you are saying but actually Renault and Ferrari are not bad workmen, they just have slightly different tyre requirements to what BS consider to be the "average" of the field.

BS make a best guess of what the "average" requirement will be for a given race.
Perhaps they are not accurately reflecting the average?

If that was the case would it be "throwing one's toys out of the pram" to say so ?
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AndyW76
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Well, it would be unfair to intentionally favour a minority of teams, making the majority suffer. Lets not forget how much tyre testing the teams do throughout the season as well.
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Norbert
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AndyW76,Aug 20 2008
01:50 PM
What we have is Ferrari and Renault criticising bridgestone when the deficiency is in how their car uses the tyre and not the other way round.

That is simply not true. To be faster, you need to use softer rubber. However, if your car is hard on tyres, you need to use a harder tyre to make sure that they don't run out of rubber - ie Mac three stopping in a few races. What we have here is a situation where Ferrari and Renualt have car/driver combinations that are much easier on the tyres than other teams, especially the McLaren, which has always been hard on tyres, and Lewis Hamilton is acknowledged as being very hard on tyres too (Berger used to have the same reputation if you remember). So, what Renault and Ferrari are suggesting is that to accommodate their rivals higher tyre wear rates, they are being saddled with tyres that are harder than they would like.

That is not their fault, unless you are going to suggest that tyre longevity isn't a serious factor when designing and developing the car.
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Brave_Lee_Flea
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Norbert,Aug 20 2008
06:06 PM
AndyW76,Aug 20 2008
01:50 PM
What we have is Ferrari and Renault criticising bridgestone when the deficiency is in how their car uses the tyre and not the other way round.

That is simply not true. To be faster, you need to use softer rubber. However, if your car is hard on tyres, you need to use a harder tyre to make sure that they don't run out of rubber - ie Mac three stopping in a few races. What we have here is a situation where Ferrari and Renualt have car/driver combinations that are much easier on the tyres than other teams, especially the McLaren, which has always been hard on tyres, and Lewis Hamilton is acknowledged as being very hard on tyres too (Berger used to have the same reputation if you remember). So, what Renault and Ferrari are suggesting is that to accommodate their rivals higher tyre wear rates, they are being saddled with tyres that are harder than they would like.

That is not their fault, unless you are going to suggest that tyre longevity isn't a serious factor when designing and developing the car.

sounds like the winning argument to me.
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Red Andy
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The problem is that some drivers have suffered from tyre failures, which immediately suggests that the tyres are not durable enough. But perhaps the drivers having the failures should be more careful rather than expecting the tyre manufacturer to harden their compounds just to stop certain driving styles from being as destructive as they perhaps should be.
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Norbert
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Tyre failures (as opposed to punctures) are caused by the tyres being overloaded or simply overused. Put too much load on a tyre for too long, and it will wear down and explode. The only way around this is to make the car easier on tyres, or ultimately make the driver slow down. We often hear that Hamilton is being told to slow down by the team but is reluctant to do so, and it isn't really a coincidence that this combined with his very fast and aggressive driving style has lead to serious tyre issues on a few occasions. In some ways it reminds me of Days of Thunder where Harry is trying to stop Cole from destroying the tyres by overdriving. The result of driving slightly slower and slighty less aggressively resulted in an overall time that was faster because the tyres didn't give up.

It's no different to the current situation in F1. Take away a little of the performance, or make the car easier on the tyres and you will have a more consistant drive. I would be willing to bet that the ultimate one lap pace of the McLaren is a couple of tenths faster than the Ferrari, but the Ferrari is easier on the tyres allowing them to run faster on average. This is probably why Kimi has so many f/laps - his tyres are in a better state towards the end of a fuel rin and he can push that little bit harder. Has anyone compared the lap numbers given above to the laps on which he pitted?

I'd also be willing to bet that if McLaren could get Hamilton to go a little easier, that he trounce the opposition for the rest of the year, however, like Senna he wants to be fastest on every lap and never seems to want to take it easy. That's not a bad attitude, but it's not necessarily the best tactic. Think Monaco 1988 for example....
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Norbert
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Red Andy,Aug 21 2008
10:53 AM
perhaps the drivers having the failures should be more careful rather than expecting the tyre manufacturer to harden their compounds just to stop certain driving styles from being as destructive as they perhaps should be.

Precisely!

<bow>
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AndyW76
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I doubt that Bridgestone would change their compunds to suit one driver. That would be plain stupid. If there really was a problem with the compunds being too hard, more that just renault and Ferrari would have said something. Just to note, Alonso has no problem with his tyres in quallie (his quallie record isn't too bad this year), so I can't really see where renault's complaint is coming from.
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Red Andy
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Possibly Renault feel they could be doing even better if the tyres were softer. Ditto for Ferrari - they can't exactly be said to be poor in qualifying (well, Massa can't at least).
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