Tyres, tyres and tyres again

Here's a quick word on the tyre debate, I'll keep this short as it's been done to death at the moment. Autosport.com has two interesting stories on their website today one comes from Red Bull, the other regards Lotus.

Red Bull owner Dietrich Mateschitz has said Formula 1 isn’t racing anymore and wants the tyres changed as Red Bull can't get the best out of their car or drivers with the current Pirelli tyres.

Of course there are two perspectives the other voiced by Lotus, their car is more than capable of managing the tyres successfully and think it would be unfair to make a significant change now. It’s a debate that will rumble on, but Pirelli should not be overly influenced by calls from teams who want it changed just because their cars can’t make the best use out of them.

The teams knew the route Pirelli were going to go down, they even had the opportunity to test early constructions at the end of last year. I don't think it would be fair to then compromise teams which have made a car which can live with the tyres in favour of ones that haven't. At the moment it is a minority who complain. 

However, I do think Pirelli have gone a bit too far, it begins to make a mockery of the fastest sport in the world when you hear radio traffic from teams telling their drivers to slow down or not fight in aid of preserving the tyres. Perhaps they do need a rethink, but whether that should come this year is another matter entirely. 

Admittedly the Spanish Grand Prix wasn't the greatest advertisement to racing there has ever been, but other races this year have been enhanced by the mixed up strategies the tyres can bring.

Pirelli are considering alterations by the British Grand Prix, I would say if they do make any changes that they don't make too many that would drastically alter the competitive order. It's up to the teams to find a solution to circumstances that have been with them all year. If Ferrari and Lotus can deal with the tyres I'm sure everyone else can.

Mercedes fight the tyres

Ever since Pirelli returned to the sport in 2011 Mercedes have struggled with tyre issues. It seems inherent in the design of their cars and it just can’t be removed. It’s not a bad thing to be able to heat your tyres up quickly and get them in the operating temperature quickly, on occasions over the last 2 seasons, that’s been a distinct benefit especially when it comes to one lap pace.

But too often these past few years a good starting position has been totally compromised by the tyres falling apart on them despite various attempts to alleviate the issue. I’ve lost count of just how many technical directors and other personnel Mercedes have hired over the past year with still more to come, so to have ended up with pretty much the exact same problem that has plagued them for several years is totally unacceptable.

Team principal Ross Brawn is aware of the issue, and despite what appears to be Mercedes moving into a new management position with the hirings of Toto Wolf, Niki Lauda (in the managerial side) and Paddy Lowe (on the technical side) amongst many others, I still think it is in Brawn they should trust.

I’m not exactly sure why they appear to be undermining Brawn, it certainly comes across that way at least, but he is still one of the most successful people in Formula 1 and he will get it right; all past evidence points to that. Although the fact that Mercedes feel the need to have appointed these new technical people points to the fact the board don’t feel they’re being successful quickly enough.

There’s no doubt they can design a quick car, this year’s is awesomely fast, while last years could also show a decent turn of speed. But it is in tyre management where a new design philosophy is needed. Lewis Hamilton was left baffled after yesterday’s drop down the grid.

He said "Today I was doing absolutely everything the same as I did in Bahrain. But I had no grip, I couldn't push, and if I did, the tyre just went off immediately. I'm absolutely lost today. I don't know what went wrong."

It is exactly the reverse of the last race in Bahrain. There Lewis managed the tyres well enough to secure 5^th while Nico Rosberg started from pole position and plummeted down the order.

In Spain they locked out the front row with Nico again on pole, but this time Lewis just dropped like a stone while Rosberg managed to maintain a degree of respectability.

Afterwards when being interviewed by Sky when asked if they were looking forward to Monaco, they both replied they weren’t even thinking about the next race, usually that’s the stock answer whatever the result, but perhaps they can’t bear to think about another race of trying to drive conservatively and still falling down the pack.

In Monaco it should be different, last year Rosberg finished second while Michael Schumacher set the fastest qualifying lap. Tyre degradation shouldn’t be as much of an issue and given that Mercedes seem to produce good traction they might just be in with a shout of victory.

It’s one they’ll have to take as there are plenty of other places left where tyres will be critical and they look no nearer to sorting out the problem after three weeks of trying to find a solution between Bahrain and Spain. Championship contenders they are not, but race winners they certainly should be if they can make the tyres last for at least one race.

As a side note, Nico Rosberg has been impressive this year. Lewis Hamilton has come into the team with the reputation of the fastest driver in Formula 1 and Rosberg has more than held his own so far, he’s set pole at the last two races.

It is still early days and Lewis does have double the points of Nico although that can be explained through unreliability on Rosberg’s car but Damon Hill made an interesting point during Sky’s Spanish Grand Prix coverage. He said it puts Schumacher’s performances in a new light.

Schumacher out qualified Rosberg an equal amount of times last year, while also often out racing him. If Rosberg can continue to look good alongside Hamilton then perhaps a re-evaluation of just how successful Schumacher was in his comeback is due.

However, like I said it’s still early days and Lewis is in a new team and may come to dominate Rosberg, but so far Nico is enhancing is reputation and by dint of that re-enhancing Schumacher’s. It’s at least an interesting perspective.

all photo's from autosport.com 

Alonso jubilant with commanding home win

Five red lights on, the roar of the engines reaches deafening proportions, lights out and twenty-two Formula 1 cars streak away in a flash towards the first corner at the Circuit de Catalunya. The blood red Ferrari of Fernando Alonso makes another exceptional start from 5^th on the grid, but space around him closes down, Sebastian Vettel then Kimi Raikkonen force him to the outside into turn 1.

Alonso is a fighter and he fought brilliantly from the beginning. Kimi got tucked up behind Lewis Hamilton into turn 2, enabling the Ferrari to edge onto the outside of the Lotus then with the momentum with him he stayed on the outside of Hamilton’s Mercedes and was into third place, immediately hooking himself on to the back of Sebastian Vettel’s Red Bull.

It was a great move and put him right into the mix of the lead battle. Nico Rosberg was heading the pack from pole position but the Mercedes’ perennial problem of tyre degradation struck again almost immediately. Rosberg was like a cork in a bottle, with a queue of cars headed by Vettel and Alonso behind him only broken up by Hamilton’s similarly suffering car.

Ferrari needed to act and brought him in on lap 10 before Rosberg and Vettel, when they stopped a lap later Alonso was able to split them. Lap 13 he uses all his KERS, opens the DRS and dives around the outside of Rosberg to take the lead.

It wasn’t all done and dusted though, Kimi Raikkonen was getting stronger as the race went on and move himself into a position where he looked like he might just be able to knick it. He was on a three stop strategy with Alonso making four, but as the race went on Alonso took all the grip he could to maintain a lead and close gaps as the strategies played out. Eventually as he made his final stop (while suffering a slow puncture) he was over 10 seconds clear of the Lotus and on fresher tyres; the race was over.

Fernando was jubilant as took his 2^nd Spanish Grand Prix victory, stopping to pick up a Spanish flag which contravened regulations but the stewards chose common sense over stupidity and didn’t penalise him.

It launches him right back into the title fight after a poor Bahrain race, and with Red Bull not showing wonderful pace today, Alonso will be getting increasingly confident. In truth Alonso could have won at least another race so far this year and been on the podium in the other, he’s looking formidable in this kind of exceptional form; but we expect no less.

Tyre degradation again, Mercedes plummet, Red Bull complain

There were more complaints over the tyres this weekend. It’s an argument that doesn’t seem to stop; my main thought on the matter is that it’s the same rules for everyone so you build your car accordingly.

It’s simply not good enough to have a car which can be fast in qualifying then not be able to manage them in the race. Surely the race is the main point. I certainly do take on board the various points about Formula 1 being about speed not tyre conservation, and I think perhaps it’s gone a bit too far.

Today for instance we had four stop strategies and I don’t think that’s a good thing, it just makes the races slightly too convoluted and a bit gimmicky rather than a test of true strategy. It was still a fairly exciting race, but I think seeing the cars pass each other so easily as their strategies played out actually took away from cars racing side by side. It’s all over in an instant with no chance to fight back.

However, it’s not like it hasn’t happened before, in the Turbo era of the 80s cars ran to strict fuel conservation rules, in various other eras you’ve always had to look after the tyres, although not to quite this extent. In fact the only era which has been full on maximum attack is when you could refuel and had Bridgestone tyres which were made to last forever. But you worked to those rules like everyone else did.

In fact as I was writing, Pirelli boss Paul Hembery has said they are considering changes to the tyres to ensure that four stop strategies will be a thing of the past by the British Grand Prix. However, not all teams are in favour fearing this will favour Red Bull who most suspect are restrained by the tyres not letting them exploit their ultimate pace. We’ll see what happens.

If Pirelli do change anything further (they already have with their hard tyre) then it should only be a slight adjustment, just so the drivers can push that bit harder. Whether that would stop the likes of Mercedes destroying their tyres is another matter.

Over one lap the silver cars are fantastic, as Rosberg and Hamilton locked out the front row. But consistently over the years they just chew them up almost from the start. Hamilton could do nothing today as he fell back to 12^th while Rosberg controlled his first stint well to head the field before falling back to what was quite a decent 6^th and on a three stopper to boot.

Vettel blamed his cars lack of kisses and cuddles for his tyres as he couldn’t maintain Ferrari’s or Lotus’ race pace and dropped back to fourth from third. He looked to be a contender at first but as the race developed he couldn’t maintain the pace. This is through no lack of speed from the Red Bull, just the way they nurture the rubber. He still leads the title chase though, and Red Bull haven’t won three years consecutively for nothing, they’ll sort it out.

His team mate Mark Webber on the other hand made his trademark poor start to drop out of the top 10 but then made decent gains from there. He stopped early for clear air and brought himself back into play to end the day only 10 seconds behind his team mate.

McLaren supply the upgrades which fail to deliver

McLaren have been nowhere in the first four races, and at least on the evidence of Spain, they’re still nowhere. Now they’ve only just fitted these latest updates and will be continuing to upgrade the car over the coming races.

I thought that perhaps they might get a little nearer the front, but they were still outpaced by Force India and also looked dangerously close to being eclipsed by Toro Rosso too. Jenson Button was having a torrid time, failing to make Q3 and then complaining about the balance from the start. It was quite some effort and a worthy performance that he dragged his car up to 8^th by the finish.

Sergio Perez finished a close 9^th, and was generally the more impressive McLaren driver of the weekend. He managed to drag the car into the top 10 in qualifying and was hanging out near 6^th/7^th for a long time before dropping back a bit. Still I found it amusing that McLaren radioed Perez to tell him to not to hurt the tyres by fighting with Button as he caught him hand over fist.

Of course I’m sure it was just for tyre preservation purposes from the team that let their drivers fight and not at all a coded team order with memories of Bahrain still fresh.

Anyway, they’ll be glad to get a double points finish but 8^th and 9^th are not the positions they should be fighting for. McLaren usually develop well over the season but let’s not forget so do other teams. They need a really major step if they aren’t just going to stagnate in the midfield.

They really shouldn’t be in this situation in the first place, it does point to some rather odd choices being made with their design for 2013, especially with a major rules overhaul in 2014. But then again, McLaren do have a history of designing duds after producing pace setting cars, but a team with their strict philosophies shouldn’t be making the same mistakes as often as they do.

No gains for Williams while Gutierrez shines for Sauber

It seems strange that two of the main surprise packages of last year have slumped so badly. Sauber have only grabbed a few points while Williams are yet to even get on the board.

Could it be that with fast cars last year they neglected to focus much on 2013 as 

they battled for constructor’s positions. They both had cars that at times were capable of wins, perhaps this sudden shot at glory fuelled to develop more for that current season and take their eye off this year, or even that confidence has pushed them down avenues they might not have ventured down before.

For Williams this race couldn’t have provided a starker contrast. Last year pole and victory, this year they didn’t even make it out of Q1 and made little progress in the race.

Sauber fared little better, suffering a stop-go penalty for unsafe release of Nico Hulkenberg who tagged the rear of Jean-Eric Vergne’s Toro Rosso eventually causing it’s retirement.

I thought Esteban Gutierrez had a good race; starting 19^th after suffering a grid penalty he set fastest lap and even took the lead for a few laps as he stayed out the longest in the opening stint. He nearly managed to grab the final point, but I think he can be satisfied with his 11^th place, first time he looked like a proper Grand Prix driver.

Kimi ecstatic and rest of the top 10

Kimi Raikkonen was a disappointed man as he finished second for the third consecutive race, notching up his fourth podium from five races. To be fair it just shows he wants to win, I reckon he could have if he’d not dropped a place at the start.

Ideally he’d have been ahead of Vettel into the first corner and then his three stopper might have worked as he’d have been in control of the four stoppers through track position. Still he closed the gap to Vettel in the title fight, just four points separate them.

Felipe Massa didn’t quite have the pace of Alonso, but he still made some great moves to lift his Ferrari from 9^th on the grid (he qualified 6^th but had a 3 place penalty for impeding Webber in Q2) to finish on the podium for the first time this year, a result he’s deserved for his performances so far this season. With this double podium Ferrari are looking in great form for the rest of the season.

Paul di Resta wasn't noticed much by the camera's but he had a good drive to 7th in his Force India. It probably should have been 6th as he hounded Rosberg in the closing laps but he couldn't quite make the move. Still, he's in impressive form as his team mate suffered pit stop problems and failed to get higher than 13th.

Daniel Ricciardo took the final point with a quietly efficient performance holding off Gutierrez in the final laps. The Toro Rosso’s had good pace all weekend and qualified only just outside the top 10. Spain is when all the teams bring their first major upgrades and apart from Caterham, Toro Rosso were the only team to move themselves up the order.

Well I say Caterham but even with their upgrades they were still over a second away from the lower midfield. But they beat the Marussia’s, although disgraced themselves by allowing Geido van der Garde to continue despite not securing a wheel on properly.

On to Monaco

The championship battle already looks like it might be boiling down to three contenders with Vettel, Kimi and Alonso locking out all the wins so far this year. It’s another title battle that looks like it could go all the way to the wire, but this time I expect Kimi to be still well up there by the time we reach Brazil.

However, Monaco I expect to see a slight break. Now I’m made a rash over simplification here, but if the Mercedes had a strength in Spain apart from it’s one lap pace it was in the final twisty traction orientated sector. If they can locked out the front row again, Ross Brawn thinks Monaco isn’t as tough on tyres, Mercedes might just be about to crash the victory party.

It’s not unknown for a bad car to be sublime around the barrier lined streets of the principality, anyone for Jenson Button to bring McLaren some cheer? Or even Sergio Perez who looks to be getting better by the race.

If we’re going for our top three, I’m going for Kimi to even the victory score and put himself top of the championship table. It’s only two weeks away before we find out.

LAT & XPB photo's taken from autosport.com, all others from planetf1.com