Pirelli tyres and Qualifying

  • Thread starter Thread starter Peter.
  • 10 comments
  • 6,751 views
Peter.

Peter.

Messages
3,035
Jamaica
Kingston, Jamaica
Messages
pj-gm
Messages
PJwasHere876
Ever since the introduction of these brand new super-wear Pirelli tyres, most have been praising Pirelli for how much more interesting the show is now. But, few have seen how they are hurting qualifying, turning it from a battle for the fastest lap time to a chess game.

A common practice now in qualifying is to barely do any running, or sometimes none at all, to save your tyres for the race. I believe that it is somewhat unfair to those who do some running in qualifying, playing the game how it's supposed to be played, only to fall back in the races. More recently we've Sutil and Perez, both recently making it into Q3, and both finishing far back the order, while Buemi, knocked out in Q1, did little running, saved his tyres up for the race, and managed to stick the car 8th. Smart move.

One solution would be for the FIA to impose penalties for not running laps in qualifying, but I find that harsh, easy to get around anyway, and could pose a problem later on. Another solution would either be for Pirelli to bring more tyre compounds to a weekend to make qualifying qualifying again, or they could increase the durability of the current tyres. What i'd like to see is the opinions of my fellow users on this issue.
 
ROAD_DOGG33J
You made this thread several GPs late, as lately there has been not much of a problem.
Click to expand...

Buemi from P23 to 8th, while both Sutil and Perez who got into Q3 fell out of the points, in fact, quite far back.
 
ROAD_DOGG33J
I'm sure if Toro Rosso could have made it into Q2 or Q3 they would have.
Click to expand...

Buemi planned to save as many tyres as possible for the race because he had a 5 spot penalty anyway, so he did just a little bit of running in Q1, on the hards, and that was it.
 
Both Sutil and Perez lost about 10 positions on the 1st lap of the race. They finished outside of the points because of their own mistakes not the tires. As for Buemi, he went from 23rd to 14th on the first lap. His fresh tires would not have mattered had he not made such a great start. When I watch qualifying I still see teams competing to get into Q2/Q3, and of course the front runners competing for pole position.

With that being said, I would not mind if Pirelli gave an extra set of Option tires to teams for qualifying. But I don't think it's a must, as the last few qualifying sessions have been every entertaining.
 
Last edited:
Hungarian GP isnt a very good example of this phenomenon, as tyres did not play a very major part. I think its all part of the game but I do agree with you that it spoils the show to a degree.
However, in most cases, only one runner in every session either runs on primes or doesnt run at all. I dont think it mattered to Buemi and the Toro Rossos. In fact, they probably know that they dont have much of a chance of getting into Q2, let alone Q3, but even on primes they are still faster than the bottom six. It is actually quite a good strategy on their part. Lewis also played this game well. If that race were to have been dry, then he might have had a better chance than those who had used all of their sets of options.
 
I don't think you can blame the tires... considering the race opened on inters, which were technically fresh, since no one used them for qualifying... and note... Perez didn't even do a lap in Q3.

I like the tire game. It adds to the strategic depth of F1. And if you don't figure out strategies to maximize your odds, then you really aren't playing the game "properly". F1 is a technical sport, and knowing how to work within its regulations to give yourself an advantage is part of what makes it appealing.

In the end, you can possibly outdo other drivers by not participating in a session, but the simple way around this is to force drivers to complete at least one lap (even if it's a slow one) per qualifying session or face a five spot penalty. This forces you to choose your tire-load-out for the grid start before the race starts, and wears the tires, even just a tiny bit.
 
Personally I'm fine with it. I like the mental strategy aspect that it adds to the weekend, and that is part of "playing the game". And to me, while the Q sessions haven't been as exciting, they've still been entertaining, for the most part. I wouldn't make anyone participate by giving out penalties if they don't do a lap in a Q session. What if they do like Petrov (I think it was him) earlier in the year and bin in Q2 but make it into Q3? He shouldn't get penalized for that, and the debates will go on and on about where to draw the line, so that's useless. If anything, give an extra set of options or a Q-only set. That's about it.
 
All the drivers that have finished from back of the grid to top 10 either benefitted from:
-The best car (Webber)
-A great/lucky strategy (Kobayashi, Alguesuari)
-A great start/opening lap to the race (Kobayashi, Buemi)

Not only that but also qualifying pace doesn't mean as much for race pace these days with no refuelling. Its not really so much that teams are saving tyres but some have better race cars than qualifying cars. The Saubers for example have generally quite poor qualifying but great race pace/strategy.

All the drivers who have had good qualifying only to drop back have other reasons beyond tyres:
-Perez and Sutil at Hungary = Spins and contact
-Di Resta and Kobayashi at Silverstone = Contact
-Maldonaldo in pretty much every race so far = Williams having extremely poor race pace and tyre wear.

Not to mention we have some drivers/cars that are underperforming in qualifying anyway and therefore make up places naturally in the race, such as Schumacher.

The only drivers who have been ditching qualifying to save tyres are those without a chance of pace anyway - such as Perez in Q3 of Hungary (he was never going to be higher than 10th without rain in the session) and Maldonado who drives a Williams which eats tyres anyway..
 
Last edited:

Latest Posts

Back