In a recent interview posted on Lotus F1 Team’s web site, technical director James Allison explained why the great tire debate makes for pleasurable reading…
A few teams, including Red Bull Racing have suggested that this year’s tires are too big a step from those of 2012.
“Not really; they’re just one step softer all round than last year and the new construction makes it harder to access the rubber on the inner corner of the tire,” said Allison.
“In other words, the available rubber is reduced as it’s very tricky to get the entire width of the tire in contact with the road. Certain teams are keen for a switch back to last year’s rubber, but teams will always push for what’s in their best interest. We feel the current tires makes for entertaining racing, but then we would say that as our car tends to prosper when the tires are tender,” he explained.
The circuit of Shanghai, scene of the next Grand Prix this weekend will offer the teams a new challenge.
“China presents quite a different challenge to the last two circuits. Melbourne has a lot of medium speed corners with relatively few at either end of the scale, while Sepang has a reasonable spread; perhaps slightly biased towards the more high speed corners than average. Shanghai by contrast has almost no high speed corners, featuring predominantly low speed ones with a smattering of medium,” said Allison.
“Some of the lower speed corners are also extended in their radius, even with tightening arcs. This provides quite a stern test for the tires, as you have a significant excess of torque over grip making it very easy to wreck a set of rear tires rather quickly. It’s generally quite cool in Shanghai as well – unseasonably so last year – meaning that graining will be an issue once again; particularly given the smoothness of the asphalt which is comparable to that of Melbourne,” he added.
Allison also explained that Romain Grosjean’s E21 will be updated to the latest specs for the Chinese race.
“We’ll be upgrading Romain’s car to the latest spec exhaust and related bodywork as run by Kimi (Raikkonen) in Malaysia. We also have a few small tweaks to the front wing, rear wind endplates and sidepod vanes. One of the benefits gained from the new exhaust package is an increase in rear downforce through corners where the ratio of exhaust speed to car speed is high, which tend to be the lower speed corners. This is a good step forward which we hope will aid us in protecting the tyres at this kind of circuit,” Allison explained.
A few teams, including Red Bull Racing have suggested that this year’s tires are too big a step from those of 2012.
“Not really; they’re just one step softer all round than last year and the new construction makes it harder to access the rubber on the inner corner of the tire,” said Allison.
“In other words, the available rubber is reduced as it’s very tricky to get the entire width of the tire in contact with the road. Certain teams are keen for a switch back to last year’s rubber, but teams will always push for what’s in their best interest. We feel the current tires makes for entertaining racing, but then we would say that as our car tends to prosper when the tires are tender,” he explained.
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| Photo: WRi2 |
The circuit of Shanghai, scene of the next Grand Prix this weekend will offer the teams a new challenge.
“China presents quite a different challenge to the last two circuits. Melbourne has a lot of medium speed corners with relatively few at either end of the scale, while Sepang has a reasonable spread; perhaps slightly biased towards the more high speed corners than average. Shanghai by contrast has almost no high speed corners, featuring predominantly low speed ones with a smattering of medium,” said Allison.
“Some of the lower speed corners are also extended in their radius, even with tightening arcs. This provides quite a stern test for the tires, as you have a significant excess of torque over grip making it very easy to wreck a set of rear tires rather quickly. It’s generally quite cool in Shanghai as well – unseasonably so last year – meaning that graining will be an issue once again; particularly given the smoothness of the asphalt which is comparable to that of Melbourne,” he added.
Allison also explained that Romain Grosjean’s E21 will be updated to the latest specs for the Chinese race.
“We’ll be upgrading Romain’s car to the latest spec exhaust and related bodywork as run by Kimi (Raikkonen) in Malaysia. We also have a few small tweaks to the front wing, rear wind endplates and sidepod vanes. One of the benefits gained from the new exhaust package is an increase in rear downforce through corners where the ratio of exhaust speed to car speed is high, which tend to be the lower speed corners. This is a good step forward which we hope will aid us in protecting the tyres at this kind of circuit,” Allison explained.