Tyres - Back to slicks/one groove?

  • Thread starter Thread starter nitro_2005
  • 9 comments
  • 690 views
nitro_2005

nitro_2005

Messages
1,914
I'm not sure if anyone has posted this before but here goes

have a look through this footage from Thursday's test at Bahrain (1/3/2007). Look closely at the tyres on the cars, notably the Mclaren and Ferrari. You should be able to see that the tyre seems to have only one groove down the middle of it. Also, look at the tyres when they come in after a run. I don't know about you, but they look like slicks to me. Either that, or the heat is playing mayhem with the tyres :lol:



Anyway, what do you think? Has F1 gone back to slicks or have they changed the number of grooves from 3 or 4 to just 1 to improve the grid and compensate for the reduced downforce levels? Or is this just an experimental tyre compound to see how modern-day F1 cars cope with slick tyres?

Discuss.
 
They look like Intermediates to me - I can see a slight tread pattern either side of the groove.
 
I'm thinking it's just the quality of the video thats giving us the illusion of the tire's not having grooves. Wouldn't this be all over the F1 website if they were experimenting with new slick tires? If they were intermediates, it doesn't make sense why they'd use them on a dry and sunny racetrack?
 
My bad. I thought there were slicks :lol: Plus, i've seen pics on the Autosport website of the Ferrari and such with grooved tyres. So I suppose it's ok to close the thread now.
 
appie17
There intermediates, but why testing them?
Click to expand...

ND4SPD
I'm thinking it's just the quality of the video thats giving us the illusion of the tire's not having grooves. Wouldn't this be all over the F1 website if they were experimenting with new slick tires? If they were intermediates, it doesn't make sense why they'd use them on a dry and sunny racetrack?
Click to expand...

I'd imagine they'd test them to see how much time they'd lose on a dry track compared grooved tyres. It's a vital piece of info when changing from intermediates back to grooves on a drying race track - they can see when other similarly-shod cars start to lose enough time to make grooves viable.
 
Have a look at mt "Bahrain F1 test" thread , I took the pics my self , the tires are not slicks :D
 
appie17
There intermediates, but why testing them?
Click to expand...

Bridgestone has limited the amount of tyre sets that teams can use in testing. Most installation laps and system checks are done using intermediate tyres so that they can keep green sets of dry tyres for the real testing work: race simulations, qualifying simulations, etc.
 

Latest Posts

Back