Extra tyres made available for teams at Spa

2011 Belgian Grand Prix

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More soft tyres have been provided for today's race

Pirelli has supplied an extra 17 front soft tyres for use in today’s race.

The FIA released the following statement:

“The stewards have received a report from the FIA Formula One technical delegate, that the official tyre supplier will deliver 17 new front dry-weather tyres of the option specification for possible use at this Event.

“This became necessary due to changeable weather conditions at Spa during qualifying which was outside the control of the tyre supplier.

“In accordance with Article 25.3 b) of the 2011 FIA Formula One Sporting Regulations the stewards accept this is a case of force majeure.”

The teams have had very little running on slick tyres this weekend due to the weather. Aside from the ten drivers who reached Q3, the only other time they were used was during second practice.

The top ten qualifiers are required to start the race on the tyres they set their fastest lap time. However, whereas normally they only do one flying lap on the tyres in qualifying, yesterday they did three or four as the track surface dried.

It remains to be seen which drivers will be allowed to use these extra tyres.

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    Keith Collantine
    Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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    34 comments on “Extra tyres made available for teams at Spa”

    1. To me, rules are rules? If their tires blister enough to enforce this rule isn’t that making a mockery of having the tire restrictions?

      If the tires blister, the driver shouldn’t of done so many hot laps in quali. that;s how i see it anyway.

      1. Rules are rules, and the rules say extra tyres can be supplied in case of force majeure.

        1. I do wonder how teams will feel who didn’t apply extreme camber to get those tyres up to temperature and blisters though, if that’s what really happened Adam Cooper’s writeup seems to suggest it is at least for one team).

          I agree it is in the regulations, but it still.

          1. By now the reports are its about both RBR cars, as well as Hamilton and Alguersuari.

            Its fine for Pirelli to bring tyres, just in case. And its also right for anyone who wants to change, that they have to get out of parc ferme to do so and start from the pit lane.

            Would be fun seeing Webber fight up from a pitlane start.

        2. Ronnie Simonsen
          28th August 2011, 14:45

          Hi Keith. What force majeure are we talking about?
          I saw a wet qualifying. So if the teams want more inters or full wets, fine by me. But why whould you allow them to get more soft tires?

        3. I’m against this decision. As has been the case this season, they had to go out to do laps at the end of the session, otherwise tomorrow they’ll pit earlier and use the medium tyre more.

    2. Is that 1 tyre for everyone who made it into Q2? 17 tyres seems a really strange number…

      1. Guess its the exact number of tyres that seem to be in a worse condition. Some have both front tyres, some only one?

    3. i don’t understand. Why only 17, and why only front tyres?

      1. Likely 17 because only those in Q2 and Q3 used dry tyres = 17 runners. And only front tyres because the track nature and camber caused only the fronts to blister. The rears are in good shape.

        1. so we will see drivers coming in to change only their front tyres?

        2. But it doesn’t say pairs of tyres, so that means it is just the one most loaded front tyre?

      2. 17 won’t be a number picked from nowhere. Pirelli, the teams and the FIA will have taken a look at the tyres and decided some would have been over the threshold of suitability to be used.

        1. It’s 17 + 3 already at spa making it 20.. 10 sets for q3
          But they aren’t allowed to use them. It was a precaution.

    4. We don’t want to run the risk of drivers going out on unsuitable tyres – remember Indianapolis 2005? Good decision in my view.

      1. Teams stuborness was what made that race a fiasco.
        A few years afterwards a similar problem occured in Indycar or some other North American racing series – tyre manufacturer said he couldn’t guarantee tyres would last more then 10 laps. Solution – teams with those tyres did 10-lap stints.

        1. Well Max and Jean Todt did their best to scupper any solution, the tyre rules of 2005 was what made it such an issue.

          But actually I have to confess to reading the article incorrectly, I thought it was the wet tyres which would make it a safety issue. Dry tyres, now I’m not so sure.

      2. I agree, but It’ll annoy me if it’s only for “those who need it” and not everyone.

    5. Bizzare. next to no running should mean there is plenty of tyres to go round. Perhaps one or more of teams have been moaning about doing more laps on the slicks in qualy….well tough they could of pitted and changed.

      1. Not really, they were already pretty pushed for time. On a shorter lap, perhaps.

      2. I guess doing two runs was difficult with the long in and out laps, especially if you want to maintain a little flexibility with regards to the moment you are on track.

        I agree it’s bizarre though; I don’t see any scenario in which the front runners pit after 5 laps merely for new front tyres.

    6. I presume 17 sets, unless Schumacher is intending on running in “trike set-up” today, like he tried yesterday

      1. Although Adam Cooper has said that “The FIA has also just said that Pirelli has released 17 new front tyres, just to confuse the matter.”…

        Hmmm, perhaps Schumi is going to try that. Although it should be noted that the previous two times he’s tried Spa with 3 wheels have ended up in failure…

    7. Apparently this story is still developing. From Adam Cooper’s blog: “Three teams I spoke to in the last 30 minutes had different versions of the story; and one knew nothing at all about it.”

      Looks like the FIA has done it again.

      1. F1Zone is also repeating what it says is LaSexta is reporting, that it’s McLaren and Red Bull Racing, ie. the top three, who used a lot of camber, perhaps more than Pirelli advised, to get a good S2 time on these tyres, I guess that combined with the long single run overloaded them. But if Ferrari didn’t do that to not overcook their tyres, they will be rather miffed by this.

        So, it’s poring when it rains with controversy this weekend :)

        1. I can’t see how you can give advantage to the teams who abused their tyres… Seems…. not good.

    8. I’m guessing they think tyre-wear will be pretty high then, that or they have a bad batch because why would rain mean they needed more tyres?

    9. I presume this affects only teams who reached Q3 – others haven’t used option tyres in qualifying due to wet track.

    10. This from Andrew Benson via Twitter:

      “Red Bull had asked for fresh tyres because both cars blistered fronts. They’re not going to get them. ”

      And this from Kevin Eason:

      “Watching Vettel giving Pirelli man what for. Its F1 so its a row. Seems Red Bull have blistered their fronts”

      1. I saw another tweet claiming its both Red Bulls who are worst, but Hamilton and Alguersuari are having trouble with them as well.

    11. So BBC is now reporting it is Red Bull who really asked for new tyres, but that they are not getting them, with Vettel especially really having blistered fronts.

    12. La Sexta reports that none of them (Q3 drivers) are getting new tires.

    13. Danish television also just confirmed that Red Bull won’t be getting new tyres.

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