Pirelli tweak tyre markings for 2012

[Michael Brown]

This is absolutely wrong strategy for me The races from the season start were incredible because of that big margin between compounds and the fast degradation. 10 seconds gap was nothing if you stay 2-3 laps longer. I think Pirelli started to turn slightly to Bridgestone. I remember it was 2 stops strategy in 2009 and became 1 in 2010 and let's face - it was boring. Thanks God we had Kobayashi at some tracks

Thank God for Perez one stopping like a boss.

 

[Victor Ivanov]

Well we wont see 58 stop strategies as last year

Yeah it's gonna be like the end of the season - all top 3 teams pit in 1-2 laps difference. No massive gaps created or reduced due to destroyed tyres. Oh and Option - option - prime strategy for almost every race. We've seen this movie last 8 starts

 

[Hampus Andersson]

Thank God for Perez one stopping like a boss.

How many times did he do that? i remember Australia only :s

 

[Victor Ivanov]

That proved it wasn't the best strategy. Yeah it probably worked well in Australia but on tracks with higher tyre wear it wasn't possible. I remember Di Resta tried 1 stopper at Singapore but it didn't work well and he switched to 2 stops.

 

[Chris Jenkins]

Sauber tried it a few times, but apart from Australia, it cost them more than it benefitted them.

 

[Michael Brown]

How many times did he do that? i remember Australia only :s

He also did it in Valencia, which cost him some spots, and in Monza, before the gearbox gave up. Of course you should only try a 1 stop on low tire wear tracks. Probably would have worked a little better in Monza than Australia.

 

[Hampus Andersson]

Sauber probably caught everyone off guard in Australia as people really did not know in the first race so they set it in stone to run 2 stoppers.

 

[Michael Brown]

Actually Pérez finished 11th in Valencia with Kobayashi 16th on a two stop.

BACK TO THE TOPIC

I hope Pirelli doesn't make the tires so durable they're basically Bridgestones. Yeah we don't want tires that fall apart after 6 laps but we don't want one stops for everybody.

 

[Victor Ivanov]

Yeah that's what I said but we really need bigger time gaps between different compounds because otherwise there won't be any sense of the two compound rule.

 

[glight]

I think sometimes the hard tyres were way slower than intended. Catalunya comes to mind; I think they were 1.5s slower than the softs. I think what Pirelli should do is make the primes about 1s slower than the options. This way running mostly on primes becomes a viable strategy instead of only one (short) stint on primes like we had for most of last year.

But it looks like Pirelli is in danger of making the performance gap too small and the degradation too predictable.

 

[Victor Ivanov]

In Catalunya there were Softs and Hards so I think the gap was good because there is the Medium compound between and if the gap was 1 second how big should be the gap between meds and softs?

 

[Hampus Andersson]

Ferrari did not work well at Catalunya on hards :S Alonso taking the lead at first then getting lapped at the end of the race..

Way to hard compound for that track.

 

[Chris Jenkins]

Last year's hard tyre has been completely removed.
Apparently this is roughly the plan for the tyres:

2012 Hard = 2011 Medium
2012 Medium = 2011 Soft
2012 Soft = 2011 S.Soft
2012 S.Soft = Even softer

 

[Victor Ivanov]

How come everybody didn't have problems with the hard tyre, only Ferrari had and bang 2012 it's removed? Sometimes I think the F in FIA abbreviation stands for Ferrari.

 

[Hampus Andersson]

Last year's hard tyre has been completely removed.
Apparently this is roughly the plan for the tyres:

2012 Hard = 2011 Medium
2012 Medium = 2011 Soft
2012 Soft = 2011 S.Soft
2012 S.Soft = Even softer

SS has not been changed as far as i know. I think it´s great to see softer tires because it allows for quicker times.
Seeing the cars run on a full tank the first few laps is heartbreaking enough

 

[Victor Ivanov]

In 2012 Super Softs will be the same as in 2011. The other 3 compounds will be softer.