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Tyres??? if you ever wonder whats there to know more about tyres, i would say, you might need to think again. The reason i started showing interest in knowing more about the tyres used in F1, were because of the kind of change it has given to the F1 2011 season.
Pirelli – “We come into this three-year agreement with two objectives: Firstly, we want to help increase the spectacle and play an active part in putting on what is one of the greatest shows on earth.”
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The return of Pirelli, as the sole tyre supplier for F1 2011 season (and another two more years too), along with KERS & DRS, has provided the F1 fans, the much needed excitement in watching the F1 cars overtaking each other, more often.
With the huge difference in tyres degradation amount and its performance, teams now are facing tough challenge, with one more addition in the “Things to consider for Race Strategy” list. And now, the same reason, has made teams to include Qualifying also as part of the Race. Actually, in F1 2011 season, its so evident already that, the race strategy begins right from the Qualifying sessions (may be even before that, rite from the practice sessions). Even the Championship leader decided to do just a one Qulaifying lap in Q3, and wait patiently in the pit, praying that no other drivers will take the pole position away from him. All for saving tyres for the race, just for having more fresh tyres for the Race. Even in the Race, its so abrupt that, its not just managing tyres well (with two stop strategy, with the tyres almost flat in the Race end) takes you to the podium, its the right tyre at the right time (even if its an three stop strategy, fresh tyres giving that extra speed at the Race end) which reserves a place in the podium. If you have been following the races so far this season, you’ll have already understood it.
Pirelli will supply a total of 50,000 tyres to Formula One for 2011 season. These P Zero F1 will be produced in Turkey at the ‘sport zone’ of Pirelli’s Izmit factory, one of the most modern of its kind thanks to its cutting-edge technology and advanced production machinery
All we were discussing about so far, is the choice of tyre, being so important in the Race Weekend. So, what does “choice of tyre” mean? Based on the condition of the track surface, there are two major category of tyres that are being used in the Race Weekend : DRY tyres and WET tyres. That a much broader classification, more generic one, and i dont think i need to explain, which set will be used when. When we drill down more into these categories, Pirelli, for this F1 2011 season, offers a choice of Six types of tyres – Hard, Medium, Soft, Super-Soft (all these four belonging to DRY tyre category) and Intermediate, Wet (belonging to WET tyre category). Before we go on more about these tyres, how can we (fans/tv viewers) identify which tyre is being used? A simple solution, give the tyres a different colours, if not the whole tyre (this has also been tried once with the Benetton team, when Benetton team was supplied with multi-coloured rubber to run as part of their ‘United Colors’ campaign back in 1986), a colour band or portion of it. Pirelli came up with its Logo & the pZero logo to be coloured differently for F1 2011 season. The below list/image gives more detail on which colour represents which tyre type:
DRY Tyres : Hard – Silver, Medium – White, Soft – Yellow, Super Soft – Red
WET Tyres: Intermediate – Light Blue, Wet – Orange
Six colour codes to differentiate Pirelli tyres – Click on the image to view it BIG!!!
Pirelli PZero tyre Specifications for F1 2011 Season:
- 13 inches - The rim diameter, equally for front and rear
- 245mm – The tread width of front tyres
- 325mm - The tread width of rear tyres
- 660mm - The diameter of dry tyres
- 670mm - The diameter of wet tyres
Each compounds allow excellent adaptation to the characterization of all circuits and among each race to enhance the performance of the F1 car. The result is more grip & faster lap-time, but also more stability & steering precision.
The main aim of these many variants of tyres is, Lets now look more in-detail about each of the types of the tyres.
DRY TYRES
The tyres for dry weather, known as slicks, have a tread that is devoid of grooves or channels and come in four versions: supersoft, soft, medium and hard. The different compounds are designed to be well-suited to a wide range of circuits, depending on the type of asphalt, the number and severity of all the different corners and the speed of the straights.This allows the teams to choose between a number of different strategies.
Super Soft Tyres – Red
This has the Hardness Index – 100%. This is the softest tyre in the range and it is designed to provide peak performance and roadholding on slow and twisty circuits such as Monte Carlo and the Hungaroring. It delivers the performance starting at temperature 95degreeC.
Paul Hembery, Motorsport Director – Pirelli, says: “This tyre gives lots of grip, over just a few laps. It’s a special compound, which is quite distinct to the rest of the range. The exceptional amount of grip available is surprising, even though it is at its peak for only a limited number of laps.”
Soft Tyres – Yellow
This has the Hardness Index – 125%. This tyre is used on circuits with comparatively low levels of tyre degradation. Soft tyres do not tend to last for as long as hard tyres, so they are frequently used in qualifying and for short stints during a race. It delivers the performance starting at temperature 105degreeC, with excellent compromise of grip and durability.
Paul Hembery, Motorsport Director – Pirelli, says: “I like this tyre a lot. It gets up to temperature quickly and it’s very driveable. It delivers everything you would expect a soft tyre to do and it’s durable as well, with good balance and grip.”
Medium Tyres – White
This has the Hardness Index – 147%. Along with the hard compound, this will be one of the most commonly used tyres during Pirelli’s debut season. It is a versatile tyre designed to work well in a wide range of conditions and is well suited to circuits with varying characteristics.It delivers the performance starting at temperature 115degreeC.
Paul Hembery, Motorsport Director – Pirelli, says: “Reliability is the watchword here. As you would expect, this tyre takes a little longer to get up to temperature but once it has warmed up properly you are sure of good consistency and durability.”
Hard Tyres – Silver
This has the highest Hardness Index – 170%. This is also a frequent choice, as it is a tyre designed to provide the maximum endurance in the toughest conditions. A hard tyre takes longer to reach its peak operating temperature than a softer tyre, so is best suited to longer stints. It delivers the performance starting at temperature 125degreeC, to ensure optimal grip between the tyre and the track surface.
Paul Hembery, Motorsport Director – Pirelli, says: “At the opposite end of the scale from the supersoft, this is a proper hard tyre. There are some quite significant differences between the steps now – which is what the teams and the governing body wanted. It’s great news for the spectators.”
WET TYRES
The wet tyres, which are characterised by grooves in the tread pattern, come in two types: full wet tyres, for rain, and intermediates.The wet tyres have deep grooves in them, with channels designed to expel water on full wet asphalt. Intermediates have more shallow grooves, for damp or slightly wet surfaces, as well as mixed conditions. The two tyres have in common the same compound. Both these are able to provide maximum dry contact with the ground and increased level of safety.
Intermediate – Light Blue
These tyres have light grooves to disperse water, but this reduces the contact patch and leads to less grip on a dry track. The height of the tread grooves is 3mm, can manage 2mm of standing water on the track surface, and are designed to expel more than 20 litres of water per second at 300kph.
Paul Hembery, Motorsport Director – Pirelli, says: “The strongest area of our wet tyres is the amount of water that they are capable of dispersing. The other notable characteristic is the short time that the soft compound takes to get up to operating temperature.”
Wet – Orange
These tyres has a asymmetric tread design, which is denser on the outer edge, and with center channel & two smaller ones in the inner side. The height of the tread grooves is 5mm and can manage 5mm of standing water on the track surface. These tyres have deep grooves in them, similar to a road car tyre, and are designed to expel more than 60 litres of water per second at 300kph.
TYRE CHOICE OPTIONS IN RACE
There are two tyre choice offered during the F1 Race Weekend – PRIME (Primary) and OPTION (Optional). The tyres are selected by the Tyre Provider, Pirelli, depending on the conditions of the Race Track, promising atleast two to three pit-stops. And its mandatory to use both the type of the tyres (atleast one sets of tyres each), atleast once during the race, which guarantees one pit-stop for sure in the Race. And the teams can play a mix-and-match of these sets of types of tyres, as-in, for example, they can choose two intermediate tyres in the front and two wet in the rear.
The following lists the tyre choices for the few of the Races in this 2011 Calendar (Pirelli has yet to announce the tyre choice for the rest of the races)
- Australia : PRIME – Hard, OPTION – Soft
- Malaysia : PRIME – Hard, OPTION – Soft
- China : PRIME – Hard, OPTION – Soft
- Turkey : PRIME – Hard, OPTION – Soft
- Spain : PRIME – Hard, OPTION – Soft
- Monaco : PRIME – Soft, OPTION – Super Soft
- Canada : PRIME – Soft, OPTION – Super Soft
- Europe : PRIME – Soft, OPTION – Super Soft
- Britain : PRIME – Hard, OPTION – Soft
Pirelli’s motorsport director Paul Hembery commented: “When calculating which tyres we will bring to every circuit, we bear a number of factors in mind such as the weather conditions and the nature of the surface. We then make sure that we select two tyres that will complement each other in terms of racing spectacle and potential strategies as well. So we’ve come up with tyre nominations that should not only be well suited to the characteristics of each circuit but also provide a great race for the drivers and spectators, with plenty of scope for the teams to exercise their strategic skills. Selecting the tyres is a very tough job for us, as in Montreal, Valencia and Silverstone we have no historical data, but we’re feeling confident that the choices we have made, in close consultation with the teams and the FIA, should continue the Pirelli tradition of close racing that we have seen so far this year.”
Note: Sincere thanks to Pirelli site and other related website for all the info.
