Formula 1 Pirelli British Grand Prix 2020Formula 1

[LeGeNd-1]

Seriously though Hamilton's luck and Hulkenberg's are like on the complete opposite ends of the spectrum. If the finish line is just 500m down the road he wouldn't have won it.

Out of the 3 cars that had a puncture, the Mercs probably because they generate the highest cornering forces out of them all (ironic because DAS was supposed to help improve tyre heat/wear management). Carlos, I've read that his driving style takes long smooth arcs instead of making a "V" like Max, and he was obviously pushing to get that McLaren to be in 4th place, so he also puts a lot of stress on the tyres laterally too. Next race with softer compounds are gonna be interesting, definitely a 2 stopper which can mix up a lot of strategies!

Gilles Villeneuve, Netherlands 1979
Fernando Alonso, Azerbaijan 2018
Lewis Hamilton, Great Britain 2020

Now the three most iconic heroic laps with punctured tyres in F1 history.

Schumacher Spa 1998

Oh wait...

 

[ShiftingGears]

Nope. They'd need to see the future to know Hamilton would have a problem.

Obviously - it's a numbers game. Both Mercedes had obvious tyre issues the whole race and one just had a puncture, the risk of issues for the sister car was obviously there. They decided to play it safe for one extra point instead of trying to force Mercedes to stay out and risk a puncture.

Pitting to go for the fastest lap when you aren't losing any places isn't gambling, that's taking the safe option.

 

[Jimlaad43]

Schumacher Spa 1998

Oh wait...

Technically not a puncture tho

 

[TenEightyOne]

Penny wise and pound foolish as they say

Eh? RB had cuts on their own tyres so what's to say that they wouldn't have had an identical issue and lost their good-luck P2? How should they have known in advance that Hamilton's tyre was going to go?

F1 is IF backwards, remember.

 

[Tired Tyres]

Obviously - it's a numbers game. Both Mercedes had obvious tyre issues the whole race and one just had a puncture, the risk of issues for the sister car was obviously there. They decided to play it safe for one extra point instead of trying to force Mercedes to stay out and risk a puncture.

Pitting to go for the fastest lap when you aren't losing any places isn't gambling, that's taking the safe option.

No they did not. They only had tyre issues when they failed. You can go on only the information you have at the time. Bottas losing a tyre does not equal Hamilton will lose a tyre. Logically, Bottas was pushing, using the curbs, pushing the tyres. Once a failure occurs the team would inevitably tell the other driver to back off. You cannot make a guess and pretend you have a shot at something on that basis. Red Bull acted on what the knew. And as I posted Horner confirmed cuts on the tyres they took off. There was no race to win by not pitting. Only a tyre failure in a random corner. The only way that changes is if Hamilton loses control and can't finish. He didn't.

 

[ROAD_DOGG33J]

My thoughts as well. That or Pirelli gives significant notice to all the teams, "Hey, based on last week's race & our research, we strongly advise you do not use the softer compounds beyond 'x' amount of laps for safety".

I have seen some "blame" though that the tire failures came as result of that first pit stop everyone did during the SC, where the hard compounds would be pushed to the limit if they finished on them on at Silverstone.

Softest option will probably be useless. Teams might just end up not using that with minimal use of the medium option. And drivers may be told to stay off the curbs.

 

[TenEightyOne]

Apologies if this has already been posted: rearward photos of Kvyat's rear tyres just before his crash. I haven't seen any official word from the team but I presume his crash (severe enough to automatically deploy the Medical Car) is now being considered to be tyre related.

Clearly this needs to be addressed before next weekend.

Spoiler

 

[SlowGrayAudi]

Apologies if this has already been posted: rearward photos of Kvyat's rear tyres just before his crash. I haven't seen any official word from the team but I presume his crash (severe enough to automatically deploy the Medical Car) is now being considered to be tyre related.

Clearly this needs to be addressed before next weekend.

Spoiler

View attachment 946207

Good catch.

Could've been a puncture, hard to determine without pirelli analysing it.

 

[ScottPuss20]

Apologies if this has already been posted: rearward photos of Kvyat's rear tyres just before his crash. I haven't seen any official word from the team but I presume his crash (severe enough to automatically deploy the Medical Car) is now being considered to be tyre related.

Clearly this needs to be addressed before next weekend.

Spoiler

View attachment 946207

Silverstone and blowouts.

Name a more iconic duo.

 

[mustafur]

Although Kyvats tyre failure doesn't explain it(probably a oneoff)the early safety car lap which made teams commit to a 1 stop earlier then intended was a primary cause.

I think Tyre failure at a track like Silverstone is inivitable when on the end of the life of the tyre due to the massive corner speeds with todays cars, the amount of force the tyres would be going through in Becketts and Maggots would be the most extreme of any GP in the calendar.

 

[daan]

Surely tyre management is part of racing?

 

[TenEightyOne]

Surely tyre management is part of racing?

Definitely. When I posted previously I hadn't realised that the hard tyres had been run for as long as they had - the failures were probably on the cards. There was also a lot of debris around the circuit and a lot of kerb usage from many drivers (or so several of the motorsport journos who were at the track have said).

With that said I still think the failures should be examined (and I'm sure they are being) just in case there is anything to be learned.

On that note, here's a video showing Kvyat's tyre failure, interesting that he took the full blame initially and that the team continued to agree with that. They've changed that now and are saying that the crash was due to failure.

 

[Veinz]

Tires should hit a cliff, not fail like this. Feels like there’s some sort of controversy involving the tires every season, it’s getting old.

 

[daan]

Tires should hit a cliff, not fail like this. Feels like there’s some sort of controversy involving the tires every season, it’s getting old.

If the tyre is abused by running it off the side of the track, is it the tyre's fault when it fails?

 

[SlowGrayAudi]

The tires probably failed because they were severely worn and the drivers keep ****ing running off track at the end of the esses

 

[Jimlaad43]

There is a very easy solution if the drivers and teams don't want their tyres to pop like that again. 2-stop strategies.

 

[Sureboss]

Surely tyre management is part of racing?

*has memories of overtaking daan at Midfield raceway, pitting for new tyres, getting overtaken by daan, repeat*

 

[Jimlaad43]

https://www.racefans.net/2020/08/04...es-ever-contributed-to-silverstone-punctures/
Pirelli has determined that the tyre failures for Bottas, Sainz and Hamilton were just the tyres reaching the end of their lives because of long stint length. There are no plans to change the compounds already planned for the 70th Anniversary race. Teams will just have to pit a few more times.

 

[SlowGrayAudi]

https://www.racefans.net/2020/08/04...es-ever-contributed-to-silverstone-punctures/
Pirelli has determined that the tyre failures for Bottas, Sainz and Hamilton were just the tyres reaching the end of their lives because of long stint length. There are no plans to change the compounds already planned for the 70th Anniversary race. Teams will just have to pit a few more times.

Thats good. Make it more exciting. Force the 2 stop

 

[andrea]

Verstappen living rent free in Hamilton's head.

 

[Veinz]

If the tyre is abused by running it off the side of the track, is it the tyre's fault when it fails?

Well now Pirelli are blaming it on the teams for using the tires for too long. Even then, the tires should hit a cliff, not destroy themselves.

Just last year at the US GP, Albon’s hard set of tires cracked during an installation lap which resulted in Pirelli not allowing them to use it. I don’t really have much faith in them as the only tire supplier anymore tbh.

 

[Roo]

I don’t really have much faith in them as the only tire supplier anymore tbh.

Pirelli are between a rock and a hard place.

Pirelli are told, by the FIA, to make tyres that degrade in order to enhance the racing.

They have to design the construction of those tyres during the tail end of the previous season, and they have to assume a certain amount of performance increase from the teams over the winter: more performance, more load going through the tyres.

Meanwhile, the teams are designing their cars for the following season, and pushing to make their cars faster.

If Pirelli overestimate the amount of performance gain by the teams, the result is tyres that don't degrade and can easily last a race distance, and then they get complaints the racing is boring because the tyres are too hard and there's no strategy variation.

If Pirelli underestimate the amount of performance gain by the teams, the result is tyres that degrade too much and, when pushed by the highest-performing teams (and therefore the teams putting the most load through the tyres) on a track that has some of the highest wear rates seen all season, the tyres eventually fail and they get complaints the tyres are dangerous. These two scenarios would happen regardless of whether it was Pirelli, Michelin, Hankook, Bridgestone, Goodyear, whomever.

It's remarkable Pirelli get it right more often than not, really, and when they do they get no credit at all.

As an aside, Mercedes had several laps' warning from Bottas that something was wrong in the form of a major and worsening vibration, yet chose to continue.

 

[SlowGrayAudi]

Well now Pirelli are blaming it on the teams for using the tires for too long. Even then, the tires should hit a cliff, not destroy themselves.

Just last year at the US GP, Albon’s hard set of tires cracked during an installation lap which resulted in Pirelli not allowing them to use it. I don’t really have much faith in them as the only tire supplier anymore tbh.

Its not pirellis fault that the teams try to stretch the tire life.

Its the teams fault for not heeding the warning signs and pushing their luck.

There are way too many variables when it comes to tire life.

Heat
Spinning (wheel)
Understeer/oversteer
Scrubbing
Downforce levels
Curb usage
Running off track
Alignment

But thats ok, you just blame the tire manufacturer for making ****** tires.

 

[EngieDiesel]

I've also heard that Pirelli wanted to use slightly harder compounds this year, but the teams voted against it. Still trying to find more details on that but it's been repeated a little too much to be rumor, I think.

 

[GroupB]

 

[SlowGrayAudi]

They need to use the 3 softest compounds so that the races quit being boring ass 1 stoppers with super predictable outcomes.

 

[Frank McGank]

Thats good. Make it more exciting. Force the 2 stop

If everyone two stops, nothing really has changed. Everyone still on the same mandated strategy

 

[SlowGrayAudi]

If everyone two stops, nothing really has changed. Everyone still on the same mandated strategy

There is a change people will actually play it more aggressive though. And it can bring the midfield into it.

Running

Medium-medium-soft
Medium-soft-soft
Hard-medium
Hard-soft-soft

 

[Frank McGank]

There is a change people will actually play it more aggressive though. And it can bring the midfield into it.

Running

Medium-medium-soft
Medium-soft-soft
Hard-medium
Hard-soft-soft

Considering how rarely they run anything beyond soft-medium in one stop races, I wouldn’t put money on it

 

[mustafur]

Considering how rarely they run anything beyond soft-medium in one stop races, I wouldn’t put money on it

The last race was Soft-Hard or Medium-Hard for the majority of the grid.