Mark Webber believes F1 races are still excessively dominated by having to manage tyre wear.
Webber said the Singapore race was “quite good” but believes there was “still too much tyre-saving going on”.
“But that’s the way it is,” he added. “I think towards the end you could give it a go but a bit of a novelty.”
Webber has repeatedly criticised the policy of using tyres that degrade rapidly to produce more unpredictable races in F1.
He leaves Singapore point-less after his car developed a fault at the end of the race while he was running in fourth place. “I didn’t get to the end which was a shame, did everything I could.”
“I’m happy with how I drove,” he added. “That’s the way it goes.”
2013 Singapore Grand Prix
Image ?é?® Red Bull/Getty
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
22nd September 2013, 16:20
Considering these last two races it’s more of “too much drivetrain-saving”
@HoHum (@hohum)
22nd September 2013, 16:31
2 Renault engine failures in one race, just like the good old days of 23,000 rpm. Seriously someone has dropped the ball at Renault, maybe they’ve given the v8s to the apprentices to build while the real engineers play with the new v6s.
bosyber (@bosyber)
22nd September 2013, 16:36
Except that it was more than likely his gearbox giving up, the same gearbox that had the problems already in Monza that then stressed the engine, so maybe that was RBR themselves then @hohum?
Perhaps you are right with lumping it with Grosjean’s problem as an indication of engine fragility, but I still think that the gearbox was Webbers real problem and what caused his failure.
@HoHum (@hohum)
22nd September 2013, 16:45
possibly, if the gearbox is cooled by the engine coolant, otherwise it’s hard to see how a gearbox problem could cause flames out of the exhaust pipe.
@HoHum (@hohum)
22nd September 2013, 16:51
@bosyber, this is the same reliable engine that has had development frozen for several years, sudden failures suggest a quality control problem rather than a design problem.
bosyber (@bosyber)
22nd September 2013, 17:47
@hohum, wasn’t the problem in Monza some leak leading to the gearbox being ‘dry’, or something like that, if so that could be the issue? I do agree that it is a quality control issue or quality of implementation of the packaging; Could it be that had Vettel not had free air, he too would have overheated engine? Hard to know, but otherwise that points to a rather big difference in quality of components they ended up with [no, certainly not suggesting inequality, but yes, QA problem, maybe].
Jeff Bird (@jedoublef91)
22nd September 2013, 17:48
It’s also 2 engines failed in one race not really that high a figure seems like it’s probably a coincidence to me unless more Renault engines fail before the end of the season
Mike Dee (@mike-dee)
22nd September 2013, 17:31
Horner told Vettel before the podium that Webber had a loss in water pressure over the last five races.
Glenn (@glennb)
22nd September 2013, 17:35
five laps…
bosyber (@bosyber)
22nd September 2013, 17:42
Loss of water pressure, @mike-dee, @glennb, ah so that was what he said before podium, didn’t fully hear it; still, not clear if there was a leak somewhere in the engine/gearbox then or outside of it. In Monza it was an oil leak wasn’t it?
Mike Dee (@mike-dee)
22nd September 2013, 17:53
@bosyber I don’t think it was a gearbox problem. He had to keep revs low to keep the problem from worsening. Also the flames seem to be more related to overheating than gearbox failure.
@HoHum (@hohum)
22nd September 2013, 16:25
Yes it’s silly people saying he wasn’t fast enough, it was only 2 laps into the race and he was being told to back-off Alonso to save the tyres. Kimi was the only driver actually racing in the early laps and he made several passes but his tyres were ruined in 10 laps because of it.
andae23 (@andae23)
22nd September 2013, 16:44
I have to agree with Mark there. After the safety car, Vettel had to make sure he covered Alonso, who would go to the end. He did so by going 4 or 5 seconds quicker per lap, on the same tyres as Alonso. I mean, how are be supposed to determine which driver is the best? The one that goes least slowly?
Let’s say, overall the races this year have been quite ‘dull’, despite there being more overtaking than in many years before Pirelli came into the sport. So back in the day when we still had ‘good’ tyres, what made those races more enjoyable than races today? I guess it’s just the knowledge that those drivers are going as fast as they possibly can for 90 minutes. I’m just not excited to see Alonso drive knowing he could go 4 or 5 seconds faster per lap.
Hamilfan (@hamilfan)
22nd September 2013, 16:56
@andae23 Exactly !
Jon Sandor (@jonsan)
22nd September 2013, 17:12
Let me float a trial balloon here. How about we say that the driver who is “4 or 5 seconds quicker per lap, on the same tyres” is the better driver?
You don’t actually know that he could have though. If he could have and did not then that was a very strange decision by him and/or Ferrari. And by “strange” I mean “bad”.
Ajanu
23rd September 2013, 13:41
After the safety car, it was obvious to everyone Seb needed another stop. Alonso could have pushed at the same time and 3 stopped the race if he really was 4-5 seconds faster than he was lapping. On fresher tires he should have been faster than Seb.
Eddie (@wackyracer)
22nd September 2013, 16:48
The one guys struggling with tyre wear and is told to save tyres, the other one sets fastest laps on whichever lap he desires, im not one of those “webber gets the total failure of car while vettel doesn’t” but what’s so different?
Eddie (@wackyracer)
22nd September 2013, 16:49
The one guy is*
@HoHum (@hohum)
22nd September 2013, 16:55
The difference is that 1 guy is out front in clean air, the other guy is behind a car in hot turbulent air.
Jon Sandor (@jonsan)
22nd September 2013, 16:51
The drivers? Tyre management has always been an area where Vettel has been superior to Webber. Newey said so himself.
Michael Brown (@)
22nd September 2013, 16:49
Pirelli’s 2011 tires were the best.
Alex Brown (@splittimes)
22nd September 2013, 19:07
Marbles off-line make it harder to pass, too, and at a track like this no-one wants to go slithering embarrassingly into the barriers.
Deej92 (@deej92)
22nd September 2013, 19:30
di Resta *cough*