A poker game called tyre management

The most unpredictable f1 season in years can't stop thrilling us.

Tyre management has been an integral part of Formula 1 since its conception. Then why all the hue and cry this year alone?

In 2011, Pirelli returned to Formula 1 after a gap of 20 years, taking over from Bridgestone as the sole supplier of tyres for F1. Pirelli motorsport director Paul Hembery promised tyres which will make racing ‘exciting’ again. ‘Exciting’ turned out to be an understatement. The 2011 season saw the number of overtakes increase to an excess of 1500, a big jump over the previous year(DRS too, played a big part). If 2011 wasn’t enough of excitement due to DRS and Pirelli tyres, 2012 has proven to be the most unpredictable season ever till now. No team has been able to work out what the tyres will do in a particular situation.

Pirelli has worked thousands of hours and tested millions of miles to find their perfect concoction in terms of tyre composition. These tyres have a ‘Cliff’ which can be defined as a breaking point beyond which the tyres lose their performance exponentially. Kimi Raikkonen found this the hard way in China. While fighting for the podium with just 3 laps remaining, his tyres gave away dramatically and Kimi had to finish 14th. So what is going on here? Even last year, we did not see such dramatic response from the tyres. Now let’s just dwell a bit deeper into this.

When compared to the 2011 Pirelli tyres, the 2012 tyres have a much more flatter profile than their 2011 counterparts. This means more area of the the tyre is in contact with the track surface and the result is dramatic. While till now, the main form of tyre degradation was tyre wear, i.e. tyres losing rubber as the race progressed, this year though, due to larger contact surface of the Pirellis, the whole tyre surface heats up continously. This does not necessarily mean tyre wear. Tyres heat up so much that they become saturated with heat and they can’t take it anymore. Due to excess heating, the tyre chemical composition tends to get altered and it just collapses due to heat saturation. In terms of visible tyre wear, it may not be much but into terms of performance, its a massive drop.

Such a response from tyres has made some drivers skeptical about whether this is real racing, Michael Schumacher being a vocal critic in this regard. During the race, the driver has to find a balance of attacking the man in front and also conserve his tyres. 5 different winners in the first 5 races just reaffirms that no team has found a way to fully understand tyres this season. Real racing or not, this year has already seen many thrilling battles and has been a treat for the spectators(Television and live audience alike). Whether this is what formula 1 should be, where drivers are forced not to push the cars to the limit, but must drive intelligently and maybe slower to secure win, is a debate for another day. Let’s just enjoy the season and reserve our comments till the end.

Till now every move from the teams has been a gamble. Some paid off, some did not. Tyre management in Formula 1 is the new game of poker.