Pirelli Demonstrate 18" Wheels at Monza
- Thread starter Paul Jeffrey
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- f1 f2 formula one jean alesi monza pirelli
I like them. What I do notice is the drivers vision is impaired by the Halo down the centre, then it appears the tyre sits in their vision when trying to find an apex. The driver can't see left and right as evident at Monza with Vettel and Stroll. They can't see out of the back because of the small mirrors. There isn't much left. Seriously though, I would happily see them go slower and be able to pass and fight - aero needs to be addressed. How can IndyCar get two styles of driving right and F1 not get one right.
Don't like the look of them at all . Theyre not as bad as I thought they might look but they still don't look right on a F1 car . Although I didn't like the look of the Halo I can understand that as it's for safety but this has nothing to do with safety and everything with trying to sell road tyres . In fact , surely the big fat current tyres that give tons of grip because they have a wide contact patch are safer than theyre going to be as I cant see how they can possibly have anywhere near as much grip as the current tyres .
I can't help wondering if this might also be a step in the direction of a simpler/less expensive braking system with more standardised parts?
LMP, GT and Touring cars all use 18 inch tyres, so there's bound to be quite the large body of experience with that profile already.
Assuming that an 18 inch-rim tyre is likely stiffer than a 13 inch-rim tyre of roughly the same circumference, it might also deflect and wobble less than the current tyres, which could end up being a boon in terms of aerodynamics? But maybe you can offer some insight here?
In terms of the larger MoI, could that contribute to slightly longer braking distances in and of itself, since the brakes need to counteract more rotational inertia (and energy) in the wheels themselves? Or is that insignificant compared to the linear inertia (and energy) of a 700-odd kg chassis?
At the crazy level of engineering of a F1 car, the diffuser and the floor are aerodynamic sensitive even to the lateral deformation of the shoulder from the static position, so they already have been designed to compensate it. With the bigger rims and tyres, in addition with more drag and completely redesigned suspensions, teams will have to drasticaly change the current aero packages. This can mean that some teams may adopt different approaches as they did with the new front wings this season.
However the increased moment of inertia of the bigger rims is not enough to impact the braking distances, but the new Pirelli compound may will. My personal suggestion on this topic is to force teams to mount smaller brake discs, as longer time on the brakes means more overtake opportunities.
18 inch tyres on current Renault F1 car.
