F1 drivers will get an extra set of hard tyres to use during Friday practice at the Circuit of the Americas to give them an extra opportunity to learn the new circuit.
“In many ways America will be the biggest challenge for us of the year,” said motorsport director Paul Hembery. “But stepping into the unknown is a situation that we are used to: last season the majority of tracks were completely new to us.
“We?óÔé¼Ôäóve chosen the hard and the medium compounds as we think it will be quite a demanding track, based on the asphalt samples and simulation data we have gathered.
“Naturally we?óÔé¼Ôäóve leaned towards a slightly more conservative choice in order to cover every possibility at a brand new circuit, but the tyre choice in Abu Dhabi was also conservative and yet we saw one of the most exciting races of the year.
“We?óÔé¼Ôäóre all absolutely delighted to be returning to America with Formula One: it?óÔé¼Ôäós a crucial market for us as well as being the home of many of the most enthusiastic fans out there. We?óÔé¼Ôäóve felt a huge buzz about this race, and with the championship so finely poised it couldn?óÔé¼Ôäót come at a better time.”
Mark Webber said: “The track looks pretty quick: it?óÔé¼Ôäós got some very fast changes of directions, left-rights and fifth/sixth gear stuff, which is not hanging around for us.
“It looks like they?óÔé¼Ôäóve done a really good job and there are lots of undulations, which is important. With a new track there are always things we don?óÔé¼Ôäót really know until we get there, such as the subtleties of the cambers of the corners, which we will find out about on Friday.”
2012 United States Grand Prix
- F1 fans’ videos from the 2012 United States GP
- Top ten pictures from the 2012 United States GP
- Photozen wins USA Predictions Championship round
- Grosjean warns rivals “I won?óÔé¼Ôäót leave the door open”
- 2012 United States Grand Prix weekend in Tweets
Image ?é?® Pirelli/LAT
James (@jamesf1)
12th November 2012, 15:02
Why? They are professional race drivers. They’ve done hours in simulators learning the track. How did drivers manage pre-2000? The one thing which has added to great racing this year (at the start at least) was the uncertainty on how the tyres would behave on track. The added complication of a new track would have made this a great race.
Girts (@girts)
12th November 2012, 15:10
@JamesF1 Agreed, I think it’s gonna be a one stop race anyway, given the conservative choice of tyre compounds. Welcome to Bridgestone II.
James (@jamesf1)
12th November 2012, 15:11
I understand why Pirelli have been more conservative on tyre choice, they dont want to be seen to be having too much interference with how the championship plays out.
Girts (@girts)
12th November 2012, 15:30
I truly hope that they will bring more radical tyres for 2013 again…
timi (@timi)
12th November 2012, 21:40
@grits I don’t see how you can be so certain it’ll be a one stopper, it’s not even FP1 yet.
Dizzy
13th November 2012, 11:14
And I really hope they don’t.
The tyre lottery of early 2012 was a complete Joke, The races have been far better since they started bringing proper tyres which allow the drivers to push/race hard.
Calum (@calum)
12th November 2012, 16:02
It’s true that they have done hours in the simulators, and will get the hang of the track pretty quick on Friday, but the cynic in me thinks the extra tyres are to make sure there are plenty cars out on track during Practice 1 and 2 in order to put on as good as show as possible for the American audience!
James (@jamesf1)
12th November 2012, 16:47
That’s a plausible theory. Some of the teams are probably running quite lean on remaining engines too, and probably wont fancy putting milage on older engines
BasCB (@bascb)
13th November 2012, 6:46
I don’t even think you need to be a cynic to think that @Calum. In fact, I would be perfectly comfortable to have them say it that way:
Look, this is a new track, and its a return to the US, so its of great importance to get as much cars out there in all sessions so people will like the action (all the more because of a bit of a lack of support races).
If only they would do so more often (think about the fans, that is)
Calum (@calum)
13th November 2012, 16:10
@bascb
Definitely, they were forced to take a step back by having to remove the New Jersey track from next year’s calender, even more reason for them to nail the Austin race this year, by making it as appealing to the fans as possible! More tyres is a good call!
@HoHum (@hohum)
12th November 2012, 21:53
@jamesf1, “garbage in, garbage out” just where did the simulator information come from? Being able to get back to the start/finish line without getting lost is not the problem, the problem is learning to 1 one thousandth of a second the fastest way to do it along with how much fuel, tyre and break wear will be involved.
@HoHum (@hohum)
12th November 2012, 22:05
thats “brake” wear ,stupid.
James (@jamesf1)
12th November 2012, 22:09
@hohum Which any professional driver, worth his salary/sponsership, should be able to do at this level.
@HoHum (@hohum)
13th November 2012, 0:44
@jamesf1, I understand your point of view but we are talking degrees of familiarity, you could dispense with practice altogether and start the weekend with Q1 which is where your argument leads, or we can do what Pirelli are doing, give the teams the opportunity to gather more data with which to plan their race strategy.
James (@jamesf1)
13th November 2012, 6:37
Where is my argument leading to ditching practice?
Mike (@mike)
13th November 2012, 8:48
@jamesf1 In that any decent driver worth his salary/sponsership shouldn’t need the practice?
Kimi4WDC
12th November 2012, 22:48
Most simulator work is done for base set-up, and to make driver unconscious about gear changes and track flow. At their level it will hardly aid them if at all in breaching that gap, at which they are competing with each other.
TotalMoonRace
13th November 2012, 10:29
kimi managed it well without simulator run………
Girts (@girts)
12th November 2012, 15:21
It’s true but… the excitement had practically nothing to do with the tyres. We were lucky to get a thrilling race but you cannot rely on collisions, safety cars or bugs in Red Bull’s fuel system every time.
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
12th November 2012, 15:37
Comment from Oskar moved here
sumedhvidwans (@sumedhvidwans)
12th November 2012, 16:08
I think they are giving extra tyres so that drivers go out on the dirty track on Friday.
KaIIe (@kaiie)
12th November 2012, 16:17
Let’s hope so. Nothing would be worse than having the 24 cars sitting in garages for the first 45 minutes of P1.
OmarR-Pepper (@)
12th November 2012, 16:38
the consevative approach can be to avoid a Michelin-in-Indy like situation
verstappen (@verstappen)
12th November 2012, 22:32
Indeed, if there’s one race to be conservative, it should be this one. They can’t have any problems with the tyres.
Hope to see some good racing!
Max Jacobson (@vettel1)
12th November 2012, 23:15
There shouldn’t be any problems anyway though: firstly, there’s no banking (which put unusually high loads into the tyres) and secondly Pirelli haven’t had a manufacturing defect! I understand that they have to be absolutely certain though, as we definety don’t want a repeat of Indy!
Tyler (@tdog)
12th November 2012, 20:18
I sometimes wonder why Pirelli bother being involved in Formula One. It seems they get bagged no matter what they do.
Max Jacobson (@vettel1)
12th November 2012, 23:51
This would make more sense if they’d brought the soft tyres, as then they would probably need the extra sets. I preferred the adventurous Pirelli who wanted to spice up the racing. Now there’s almost no oppurtunity for alternative strategies because the tyres are so conservative.
HotRodMex (@hotrodmex)
13th November 2012, 0:13
Since there has been absolutely no running on this track yet, I’m sure they are worried about degradation. The extra tires help the teams get more rubber down, which can only help them come Saturday and Sunday.
Scalextric (@scalextric)
13th November 2012, 3:17
Looks like rain is less likely than was forecast a few days ago. So these tires/tyres may actually all get used.
Kimi4WDC
13th November 2012, 5:00
By the looks of it, it seems like there is lots of events happening on COTA, so hopefully track is not going to be dusty as some other new venues. And track looked pretty clean during Lotus showcase.
AndrewTanner (@andrewtanner)
14th November 2012, 13:13
Seems sensible to me. Didn’t they do this at India last year? The surface I expect will be very smooth but with abrasive qualities, owing to the fact that it’ll be completely green.