Pirelli's tyre changes for Canada: A stab in the dark?

Pirelli’s tyre composition in the 2013 season has evoked mixed reactions from the F1 paddock over its performance and durability

Having come under a deluge of criticism from F1 teams for their 2013 tyre composite, Pirelli are now expected to revert to the previous season’s tyre composition to mitigate the current situation of drivers being unable to race at their optimum level in order to prevent rapid tyre erosion.

As for me, I don’t want to see processions in racing again but the tyre composite for this year has dampened the racing this season as most teams have been finding it unlikely to find a winning alchemy of racing on the limit and prudent tyre management. You see, that’s where it goes out of control in the name of strategy. It’s alright that tyre management is factored in but at the cost of unadulterated top-speed wheel-to-wheel racing. The first priority should be to prevent delamination encountered by Lewis Hamilton and Resta during the recent race in Catalunya.

The range of tyres made available for 2013 have been quite aggressive, high performance oriented, leading to high graining of tyres. The swift deformation is the reason why Pirelli are hit with vehement critics as the teams haven’t been able to fully access their machines’ true potential, especially the aerodynamically obsessed Red Bull RB9.

Paul Hembery, Pirelli’s motorsport director, admitted to the problems pertaining to their 2013 tyre composite, saying: “They (the teams) have basically been stressing (about the tyres) too much, and probably we underestimated the performance.”.

The part of the problem is driven by Pirelli using Renault R30 racer for on-track testing of its rubber which is needless to say significantly slower than the contenders of today. Red Bull has been vocal in their outburst against Pirelli as owner Dietrich Mateschitz has criticised the situation of F1 being “nothing to do with racing any more” despite winning two of the five outings we have had so far.

Pirelli brought revised hard compound tyres to Spain, which was in close relationship with the 2012 rubber, and rendered an extra set to help teams react to the situation. But the heat at Catalunya took its tole on the tyres as pit stops poured in at quick successions. Fernando Alonso had to contend with four stops on his way to victory just like most of the race finishers. The ‘problem’ wasn’t simply restricted to Ferrari, as there were a staggering 82 pit stops during the Spanish Grand Prix.

After the race though, the Spanisg GP winner Alonso supported the current composition of the tyre, saying: “With this year’s degradation and this year’s tyres we see the races keep changing all the time. Whoever keeps the tyre alive normally is on the podium at least.”

Meanwhile, Vettel who came home just short of podium lamented: “We are not going to the pace of the car, we are going to the pace of the tyre.”

Surprisingly, Force India’s Paul di Resta gave his support to Pirelli as he believes the aggressive nature would help the midfield teams to close the gap at the top. But his midfield counterpart Daniel Ricciardo of Toro Rosso thinks the other way round complaining that he couldn’t race at full speed.

The Canadian Grand Prix on June 9 will see Pirelli making mid-season revisions to its 2013 compounds in a hope to reduce excessive tyre degradation. The tyre structures will incorporate certain characteristics from the previous two seasons’ rubbers to better cope with the demands of the 2013 cars.

Hembery is hopeful that the pecking order is set to remain unaltered and the changes have been briefly stated to teams today. He commented: “There have been concerns from some of the teams that the changes will favour one team or another, but we don’t think that will be the case.”

The revisions are likely to favour the struggling Red Bull and Mercedes teams, of which, the former couldn’t showcase the full potential of its car while the latter suffers from swift rear-tyre degradation. On the other end of the spectrum, Lotus is very keen to observe status quo on the tyre fiasco as it is safe to say that they understand the nuances better than most teams in the paddock, which is evident with their results this season. Their perceived principal driver, Kimi Raikkonen, languishes just four points off the leading Sebastian Vettel in the driver’s championship.

Lotus’ team principal Eric Boullier is not particularly happy with Pirelli’s move as he thinks it would be unfair to change what is eventually same for everyone in the middle of the season.

“There aren’t many sports where there are such fundamental changes to an essential ingredient part-way through a season. Just imagine for a moment that, because a football team can’t run as fast as its opponent, the dimensions of the pitch are changed at half time!” said Boullier.

Pirelli will be scrambling for a perfect mix of durability and performance and it remains to be seen what Canadian GP holds for us as the tyre revision turns out to be a big gamble for the Italian manufacturer who is expected to announce the contract extension with F1 in the imminent future.