I hate to say it but Pirelli seem to be digging pretty deep trying to think of ways to deflect attention.
The tires also run about 18psi........... and under the compression at Eau Rouge I can see how that could happen, and also see how it could have affected both of the cars that had tire failures.
Ferrari took a gamble trying to run Vettel to the end with one pit stop. Had it worked we'd have said brilliant strategy. Now we say what were they thinking, me included. The fact that both Rosberg & Vettel had right rear catastrophic failures is quite interesting. I think running that many laps may have contributed to Vettel's failure, but what about Rosberg's?
And, no surprise, no one wants to take credit. Furious Vettel slams Pirelli after blowout (racer.com) Pirelli blames Ferrari for risking one-stop strategy (grandprixtimes.com)
I don't understand people are blaming Pirelli. The drivers were hopping the curbs all day. The tire could have easily sustained damage from something on the track especially on such a worn tire. The only possible way to get a podium for Vettel was to take the 1 stop strategy, it was a risk and didn't work out. It sucks for him but that's racing. And news flash...racing's dangerous.
Arrivabene pointed out that they (Ferrari) have a Pirelli engineer with the team at the track all the time who advises re strategy and constantly monitors conditions while the cars are running. It's that engineer's job to understand the tires and what they're doing and Arrivabene claims there was no indication from him that any of Vettel's tires were nearing wear limits. Others say they never worry about any sort of catastrophic issue caused by extended use because the tires always hit the performance cliff first. For example, Lotus' Alan Permane: And apparently Vettel's times show his tires weren't beginning to slow him down when the blowout happened. I'm not taking sides against Pirelli, teams take risks with geometry, atypical failures occasionally happen, etc, etc, just saying it looks like a bit more investigation is warranted.
Not so sure about Vettel's tires not losing their performance. Seemed to me Rogro was reeling him in. Not sure he could have passed Vettel, but now we will never know.
Pirelli has found cut on tires from other cars. They claim it's from debris on the track. You would think if there was that much debris the they would have had a yellow to clean it up. I think it's an Indy Michelin thing. They didn't figure right on the loads from the cornering, compression and torque.
And another reason to go with larger wheels.......you get a stiffer sidewall and probably an easier car to set up as the pressures would not fluctuate as much.
The tires as they are now contribute to the spring rate. Anything can be done given enough money & F1 teams sure know how to spend it. Pirelli would have to spend a fortune too. I don't see a benefit to a change like that.
To me it's a cost-benefit ratio issue. If cost wasn't an issue then I think they definitely should switch. After the difficulty in engineering an entirely new suspension, seems to me everyone involved would much prefer the resulting ability to adjust spring rates and fine tune other suspension settings in much greater detail and much more predictable ways rather than having to try to do so while compensating for the variable effects currently provided by those big, squishy tires. But cost is a huge issue and not changing the wheels/tires is free compared to the huge expense of engineering new tires and suspensions, not to mention the money that would be spent to deal with domino effects like aero. While I think they'd all be happier if the change could be made without expense, it can't. Might not be a good time for such a change. On the other hand, the same could probably be said for all the other changes they're planning for 2017 (or so), higher revving engines, ground effects, wider tires, etc, etc.
An excellent short article on the Pirelli biz over on Jalopnik/Blackflag: Pirelli To Formula One After Tire Explosions: We Told You So And don't miss the comments section, good stuff.
But Ferrari had a Pirelli guy with them during the race monitoring the tires. Shouldn't he have told them that they had worn out? The driver certainly would have felt them being worn out and the times would have shown they were worn out. I like these comments the best: "In other words: this is almost certainly Bernie’s fault. " "Its always Bernie’s fault!"
Yep Bernie says "make a tire that doesn't hold up It will help the show". Yep Bernie it sure did. ut: Yes I agree it is always Bernie's fault. :smilewinkgrin:
You all are missing the bigger picture - Vettel had to do a one stop race in order just to finish third! Something wrong there.....and he was the fastest of the racers who weren't Mercedes.
I think Rogro in his Lotus was faster than Seb. He did 2 stops to Seb's one & darned near caught him.