Controversy over Pirelli’s approach to Formula 1 reached a new pitch in China as the sight of an empty track for much of qualifying and soft tyres less durable than perhaps any of the era so far prompted fresh ire from sections of the paddock.
Jonathan Noble rounds up F1 figures’ thoughts on the Shanghai tyre situation.
Mark Webber believes Formula 1 has become ‘a little bit WWF’ thanks to the extreme degradation being delivered by the latest Pirelli tyres.
Ahead of the Chinese Grand Prix that most drivers expect to be dominated by difficulties with excessive wear on the soft tyres, Webber suggests the bid to chase spectacle has gone too far.
“It will all look good in the first five or six laps, having everyone fighting, but it’s a little bit WWF at the moment,” said Webber, referring to the former name of the World Wrestling Entertainment series.
Webber also reckoned that the tyres were so sensitive that there was little chance of actually being able to race with them, even if the soft tyre was used for the final stint when cars had less fuel on board.
“[Adrian] Sutil tried that in Melbourne and Pirelli said that there were indications that the race fell apart for him because he tried to race people,” he said.
“Whatever fuel load you have got in the car, if you race people, you are in trouble. So just don’t race, put the tyre on and just try and get home.”
Pole position man Lewis Hamilton admitted that for him the tyre situation was a step into the unknown, especially with big question marks about how long the soft compound will last.
“I don’t feel particularly comfortable with these tyres,” he said. “It doesn’t really last very long, but I believe other people were having the same problems. It is not just us.”
His Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg thought the soft tyre situation was pretty extreme.
“For sure it will be quite a crazy race, definitely all over the place,” he said.
“With those tyres it is more of a question of how many corners you are going to get to, rather than laps!
“For sure, and at the start, as we have seen on Friday, there are differences of seconds between some people on options, so it will be very challenging and a lot can happen definitely.”
QUESTIONS OVER QUALIFYING IMPACT
The nature of the tyres, allied to the rule that stipulates the top 10 qualifiers must start on the tyres that they set their best lap on, meant there was only limited running on Saturday afternoon.
Although that prompted some to question whether high-degrading tyres were now wrecking the spectacle of qualifying, leading figures think that such a scenario is a price worth paying if it makes the racing more exciting.
McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh said: “I think for qualifying, the show has been detracted from by the tyres we have. That caused the circumstances we have just seen, but the upside is that it is an advantage for the race.”
Jenson Button added: “I totally agree with qualifying being a bit up in the air, and also cars were running very late in Q1, Q2 and Q3.
“In Q3, there was one car in the garage, and two cars driving around like ‘Miss Daisy’ – one of them was me.
“But the positive out of this is that there are going to be seven cars tomorrow with grained tyres that aren’t going to last very long, and you will have guys on pretty much brand new primes fighting their way through.
“So it does hurt qualifying but it helps the race, especially those first few laps of the race where we love a good fight.”
MEDIUM CHOICE DRIVERS WILL LEAD ON SUNDAY
Mercedes team principal Ross Brawn expects the race lead to move around quite a lot on Sunday when the top drivers on soft tyres all make an early stop to switch to the medium compound.Some have suggested the first stop could come as early as lap five, although others expect them to last perhaps more than twice that.
“I think it will be a complex race for us tomorrow – and we don’t really know what we’ve got,” explained Brawn.
“There are two very strong competitors in the top 10, maybe three with [Nico] Hulkenberg, on the prime – and they will be leading the race for a while. It will then start to evolve from there.
“It will be an interesting race and those on the soft tyre will drop back into the groups, so it is picking the holes in the traffic.
“I think it will be a great race tomorrow but one we need to be on top of and know what we need to do. Even on prime you cannot go flat out for 20 laps you have to manage the situation as well.”
Sterling Burton Marlin Mark Anthony Martin Jeremy Allan Mayfield James Christopher McMurray Casey James Mears
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