james Allen

[maripi]

One of the most significant changes for next season is the move to Pirelli tyres from Bridgestone, which have been the control tyre since 2007.
It is a really big change and offers the possibility of shuffling the order around a bit among teams and among drivers.


If you recall how long it took even top drivers like Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen to adapt from Michelin to Bridgestone in 2007, it shows that it’s not straightforward.


Of course it is the same for everyone, but the best drivers will get there more quickly than others.



There was only a limited amount of time for the Formula 1 teams to try the tyres out in Abu Dhabi last week and some of the big name drivers didn’t even do the test and so have no feel for what the Pirellis are like.


These include Mark Webber; Red Bull was quite late in announcing who would drive the car in the Pirelli test and it turned out to be Sebastian Vettel who got both days.


Meanwhile McLaren took a different tactic from the rest, sending Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton home, preferring to exploit the fact that Gary Paffett was eligible to do the young guns test prior to the tyre test.


So effectively he was able to test the McLaren on Bridgestones and then do a straight comparison on Pirellis.


He then flew straight back to Woking to start work with engineers on building the Pirelli tyre model for the simulator.


McLaren feels that this is the most valuable tactic from its and the drivers’ point of view and gives them a head-start.


Force India did the same, albeit to a lesser extent, with Paul di Resta.


As for which drivers the tyres will suit, it seems that one characteristic of the Pirellis is that the front tyres are stronger than the 2010 Bridgestones, in other words they give a sharper turn-in for the same amount of steering input.


The fronts are stronger relative to the rears, so the car is more oversteery.


If this is carried through into the race tyres Pirelli produce next year this is likely to help drivers like Hamilton, Alonso and Michael Schumacher in particular. All three are comfortable with an oversteery car.:heart:
It could also be a boost for Felipe Massa, who struggled with getting the 2010 Bridgestone front tyres to work.


Jenson Button will be slightly concerned about the characteristics of the tyres in combination with the adjustable rear wing and the loss of the adjustable front wing.


He’s already publicly lamented the passing of the latter and we’ve seen a few times this year how he can be derailed when the balance goes off. Let’s hope these changes don’t work against him.


One of the challenges for the teams is to get the balance right on the tyres given that the weight distribution has actually been fixed by an agreement between teams.


It is set at 45 per cent to the front, plus or minus one per cent. As the characteristics of the tyre would incline engineers to push more weight forward in a perfect world – something they now cannot do – they will have to find other ways of balancing the car.


Pirelli says that the construction of the tyres will not change much between now and the start of the season, but the compounds still have some work to do.


What we saw in the test was the drop-off in performance was quite rapid and unlike the Bridgestones, it didn’t level off.


So if that carries through to next season, teams will be forced to be more tactical in races and probably plan to have more pit stops.


The Bridgestones were so durable, it was usually possible to pit on lap one and go the whole race distance on a single set of tyres. That will not be possible with Pirelli.


Overall something new like this is a shot in the arm for the sport and it should make for some great spectacle next season, as well as more intriguing races.




http://www.itv-f1.com/Feature.aspx?Type=James_Allen&id=49781