Are Pirelli stopping racing?

[Ferrarichamp]

tires, schmires!
will any driver complain after winning a grand prix? probably not.

[WRX202]

What I find amusing now is that Vettel did exactly what Michael did in Q3 yesterday ie skip the lap time to save tyres and a few hours before he was saying the tyres are good blah blah blah! It really looks like in reality the drivers DO NOT like these tyres but their teams muzzle them. Did anyone notice that all of a sudden Pirelli "decided" to bring either Hard or Soft tyres to this race instead of the usual closer compounds? The championship is totally in their hands now. I gues THAT is what really is bothering fans not the facts these tyres don't last. Honestly how can they say Pirellis help overtaking? Kimi gave up on Vettel as the second he was out of the racing line the amount of rubber crap he collected would have ruined his race and effort. This year it's Kers+DRS that help overtaking and not the tyres.

[Klutch]

What I find amusing now is that Vettel did exactly what Michael did in Q3 yesterday ie skip the lap time to save tyres and a few hours before he was saying the tyres are good blah blah blah! It really looks like in reality the drivers DO NOT like these tyres but their teams muzzle them. Did anyone notice that all of a sudden Pirelli "decided" to bring either Hard or Soft tyres to this race instead of the usual closer compounds? The championship is totally in their hands now. I gues THAT is what really is bothering fans not the facts these tyres don't last. Honestly how can they say Pirellis help overtaking? Kimi gave up on Vettel as the second he was out of the racing line the amount of rubber crap he collected would have ruined his race and effort. This year it's Kers+DRS that help overtaking and not the tyres.

Of course drivers don't like this crappy tires. But F1 is a show and they would say what they should.

[sav_pap]

These tires are just a farse in Bernie's circus.

[Alessandra]

So soon what we will have is drivers going and doing lap and coming in just to get the sector times. Pole position shoot out, is what is says. Shoot out, not drive round slow get sector times and then save tyres. Want see them push hard as they can.

+1

And, fans pay good money to go to watch quali. They expect and deserve to see everyone who gets into Q3 fighting to get the best starting place they can.
I'm delighted to see that those who played that game yesterday in Spain gained absolutely nothing from it and all three on the podium today had worked their guts out to get decent places on the starting grid.

[sagi58]

It sounds like Alonso's tires were dropping off near the end. If there had been a couple of more laps, there's a strong possibility that Kimi would have caught up and passed him!
Betcha Alonso ain't so happy with Pirelli now!!

[Red passion]

These tyres, DRS, testing ban, must all go.

You seem like a true F1 fan...here, here

[Greig]

It sounds like Alonso's tires were dropping off near the end. If there had been a couple of more laps, there's a strong possibility that Kimi would have caught up and passed him!
Betcha Alonso ain't so happy with Pirelli now!!

And if there was another couple of laps we would have stopped a couple of laps later each stint.

Alonso has not said he is happy with the tyres anyway, he agreed with MS pretty much but is not whinging about it in the media

[sagi58]

...Alonso has not said he is happy with the tyres anyway, he agreed with MS pretty much but is not whinging about it in the media

Until today, the tires were the least of his worries, eh?

[Greig]

Until today, the tires were the least of his worries, eh?

He said he agreed with MS at Thursday's press conference.

[sagi58]

He said he agreed with MS at Thursday's press conference.

Actually, he is quoted as having agreed with Vettel: http://www.jamesallenonf1.com/2012/0...-f1-should-be/

[Greig]

Actually, he is quoted as having agreed with Vettel: http://www.jamesallenonf1.com/2012/0...-f1-should-be/

And Vettel pretty much agreed with MS.

[sagi58]

And Vettel pretty much agreed with MS.

Although he sounds to be in agreement, he also couches his comments more than Schumi does. In fact, it sounds more like Vettel is rationalizing the difference between "then" and "now":

Vettel said this afternoon, “The racing in the last couple of years, since we changed a couple of things, has become much better. I had a race here where I followed Felipe for 60 laps. Nowadays you know that your chance will come in the race. We get a completely different inside the car from what you see outside the car. You have to look after your tyres more than three years ago. Take 2009, we were allowed to refuel, we had new tyres and they lasted longer with not much degradation, it’s a different quality inside the car because you can push every lap. Now we fuel the cars up, the cars are much heavier, it puts a different stress on the tyres. There’s more overtaking, which I imagine is seen as a better quality from the outside, because things happen.”
Alonso agreed with Vettel.

[Tifosi]

So soon what we will have is drivers going and doing lap and coming in just to get the sector times. Pole position shoot out, is what is says. Shoot out, not drive round slow get sector times and then save tyres. Want see them push hard as they can.

Great race today but F1 watchers can all see that its a tyre conservation lottery, not racing as we know it. Watched the post race interviews. No-one has any idea of where they currently stand in the development race because of the tyres but no-one except Schumacher will say it.

You either find that exciting or you prefer your racing to be based on more than one limiting factor.

A great great race but in F1 terms it's a massive insult to the design and development of the cars and the drivers.....imo

[Ferrarichamp]

so Alonso and Vettel are joint leaders of the drivers' championship because they got lucky with the tyres? I don't think so.

[Tifosi]

so Alonso and Vettel are joint leaders of the drivers' championship because they got lucky with the tyres? I don't think so.

no-one said that did they

[Ferrarichamp]

no-one said that did they

'Great race today but F1 watchers can all see that its a tyre conservation lottery, not racing as we know it.'

sorry, I must have misunderstood your words

[Tifosi]

Yeah. The cars and drivers are limited by their tyres to a degree that they cant even predict. That doesnt affect the relative abilities of the drivers of course but it sure as hell changes the way F1 works.

It's a lottery because no team has any idea if they will be relatively competitive at the next race. The drivers and team personnel all admit as much after every race these days. Races are most largely determined by tyre management by car , driver & team.

Drivers not going out in Q3 and waiting to see if we fall off the tyre cliff before the other guy is hardly maximising car and driver potential is it??

[Ferrarichamp]

well if Alonso wins WDC this year I for one won't complain about the tyre situation

[Tifosi]

I'm not complaining about Ferrari's progress this season dude, i'm talking about the way the sport I love runs in 2012. If they made them all wear silly hats but Ferrari still won i'd still say its fair to have an opinion about the hats

[Greig]

Although he sounds to be in agreement, he also couches his comments more than Schumi does. In fact, it sounds more like Vettel is rationalizing the difference between "then" and "now":

He agrees with MS as do most drivers

[sagi58]

He agrees with MS as do most drivers

Well, then they need to as vocal as Schumi, otherwise we'll have a tire war on our hands instead of a GP race!!

[killer]

I'm not sure I can comment on this objectively because I know we have the best driver on the grid in Fernando.

There were 2 steps between the compounds brought to Spain and I understand the need for entertainment but isn't this just interfering with variables and, effectively, manipulating the result? Tyre performance on its own is admittedly spicing up the show, but shouldn't selecting the compounds for a circuit be more about optimizing performance and less about influencing the racing?

The Star Sports commentators briefly took a break from their Lewis Love Fest to comment on how DRS, tyre degradation, and the compounds available were guarantees for a smashing race. We never know: maybe in a few years' time they can add the dragon at Turn 4 and the minefield along the back straight to that list.

Again, I say this knowing we have Fernando on board. If can push like he can with all these (sorry) gimmicks, I would love to see him perform without them.

Pirelli and the FIA may not be stopping racing per se, but they sure as heck are tinkering with it.

[Italian Spirit]

MS after hitting Bruno Senna: "Pirelli made me do it!"

[sav_pap]

Last week I had to change my scooter tires and the dealer gave me two options: "Pirelli or Metzeler".
The choice was easy!

[RedRebel40]

LOL @ Button:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2012...?newsfeed=true

Button: "I think we're struggling in terms of pace and I'm definitely struggling in terms of finding a balance with the car. We haven't had the pace in the last two races. In reality we don't understand the tyres. We still have a good car and I think the next race we could be quick again.

"But we won't understand why we are quick. We might pretend to but we won't understand. And I'm sure Williams don't understand why they just won the race here."

[Greig]

Lotus seem to be managing to understand them.

[Alessandra]

Last week I had to change my scooter tires and the dealer gave me two options: "Pirelli or Metzeler".
The choice was easy!

[Red passion]

Last week I had to change my scooter tires and the dealer gave me two options: "Pirelli or Metzeler".
The choice was easy!

Did the dealer mention anything about the tyres dropping off the cliff, one minute perfect next fighting to stay on the road

[Ree]

Last week I had to change my scooter tires and the dealer gave me two options: "Pirelli or Metzeler".
The choice was easy!

Lol

To be fair to Pirelli, I have runflat P Zero's on my car and as far as road tyres/runflats go they're pretty good.