Pirelli expect much quicker cars in 2015

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In the round-up: Pirelli expect Formula One cars to be significant faster in 2015.

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Pirelli expects ‘dramatic’ F1 pace improvement (Crash)

“Probably next year if we took the same choices everywhere what was maybe conservative this year we feel might start becoming aggressive because the pace evolution for next year is going to be pretty dramatic.”

Mercedes: Alonso is Hamilton plan B (Autosport)

“When asked what would happen if a contract [with Hamilton] could not be sorted, he said: ‘I’m optimistic, the priority is to carry on with these drivers. Should it be impossible, then Alonso represents the top alternative, followed by [Valtteri] Bottas.'”

Old Mo’s Almanac 2015 (ESPN)

“Ferrari claim white smoke emerging from engine test house is not a turbo failure but the signal that another new team principal has been chosen.”

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57 comments on “Pirelli expect much quicker cars in 2015”

  1. Racerdude7730
    2nd January 2015, 1:29

    Here we go again with Pirelli and the never ending bad calls they have been forced into making bc of “the show”. Just build the strongest and fastest tire possible. Let the race sort itself out. I don’t know about you guys but I’d love to see teams be aloud to use any tire compound they would like. They want strategy, that would give you a ton of strategy

    1. Personally, I have quite a dilemma regarding Pirelli. On the one hand, I love what their fast-degrading tyres create, the variety of strategies and how certain driving styles pay off better than others. On the other, I hate that sometimes drivers cruise in order to save them, the danger factor they can become sometimes (Silverstone 2013, Spain 2012), and the fact that having the best tyres available would push cars even faster. It’s kinda difficult, in my view.
      Happy new year everybody, it’s still January 1st here, so I’m not late ;) heh

      1. Sorry, I should’ve said Spain 2013, tyre tread loose on Paul di Resta’s car.

        1. @carlitox And Jean-Eric Vergne too. Alonso had one too, but he pitted almost immediately.

      2. Refuelling would immediately solve this problem.

        1. @f1mre Still don’t see the obsession some have with bringing back the racing-killer that was refueling.

          Refueling was awful for the on-track racing the last time & would be just as bad if it was ever brought back.

          The racing shoudl be kept on the track & not go back to been a pit strategy race with most the passing done in the pits which is what we had in the horrible refueling days.

        2. Absolutely not.

          Put down those rose-tints for a moment. All I remember is ‘we’ll overtake him in the pits’, and ‘aim for this laptime and we’ll come out infront of him’.

          Absolutely not. People completely ignore all the issues it caused. There were no positives other than being able to push, but surely we can find another means of doing so that doesn’t create another problem!

          It’s no different from DRS – just provides a textbook FIA head in the sand response.

      3. Please stop blaming Pirelli

      4. Degradation in my view is good, it forces different strategies and pace differentials to help overtaking etc. It does have to be carefully managed so that only in rarer circumstances is it faster to ‘conserve’ the tyre

        However, thermal degradation is unacceptable. Pirelli must find a way to negate or even reverse it – it punishes drivers for pushing, and employing stylish and advanced driving techniques. It also punishes a car mechanically for not working the tyre temperature into an arbitrary range.

      5. Ew no!

        Chaos and failure are NOT good racing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

        Pirelli need a rival company it would seem. So far they’ve only made f1 worse.

    2. i think its not fair to criticize pirelli for 2014, with new PU’s and higher torque figures they had to go conservative, but after a year we should expect better racing tyres.

      1. Totally agree with you on that, lets not forget that if Pirelli had had their wishes regarding the new PU’s when the manufacturers provided them with some figures, the rear tyres would have been wider and slightly larger diameter to allow the cars to put the power down better, but every team except Mercedes said no. That left Pirelli no where else to go but conservative.
        I think better mechanical grip is exactly what we need, it would help negate the loss of downforce when following another car closely through corners, but the team’s only have self interest at heart.
        Pirelli have done a very good job under very difficult circumstances, again, lets not forget that the FiA and FOM asked for tyres that wore out rapidly, can you imagine how hard it is to make a product capable of withstanding the forces F1 produces yet still wear out fairly quickly, that is one hell of an ask, especially with virtually NO TESTING on up to date machines. To be honest I for 1 think they have made a pretty go go of it considering their remit is almost the polar opposite of what you would want from an out and out racing tyre for the world’s premier racing series.

        1. I agree that Pirelli are not to blame for the policy of designing tyres to wear out but after 4 years of rubbish tyres I realise that subliminally I have begun to think of all Pirelli products as being substandard, I realised this after reading a performance comparison test that included a racetrack laptime with 2 cars very close in time but not in the order I expected, pondering this I checked to see if they were all running the same tyres and had an “aha” moment when I read the faster car was wearing dunlops, the slower pirellis, proof only of my subconscious feelings I know, but a danger pirelli should be aware of.

      2. petebaldwin (@)
        2nd January 2015, 10:56

        @f1007 – I’d actually go one step further to be honest and congratulate Pirelli for the 2014 season. Considering what was being said by the drivers, teams and pundits before the season about what the differences would be (and also considering how wrong lots of people were!), the fact that they managed to create a tyre that wasn’t really a talking point during the season is commendable.

        I would expect that without massive changes being made to the cars this year and with no new tracks to race on, they should have the tyres about right this year.

        I’ve always felt sorry for Pirelli though. The FIA brought them in and asked them to make tyres with specific characteristics. The did exactly what was asked of them and then get criticised by fans for doing so. If the FIA asked them to make tyres that would last a race distance, they would have little trouble in doing so. They occasionally get the compound selection wrong but I can’t think of many situations where anyone has mentioned that before the race weekend – it’s usually afterwards when Pirelli themselves would agree as well!

    3. Agreed, and given the constraints as outlined by @petebaldwin, I think Pirelli did a good job this year, and as the cars get quicker for 2015, giving the quickest cars some more degradation (e.g. stopping Mercedes dominating every race) by using similar compounds will improve the show. They did test the 2015 tyres at Brazil 2014, which could be a very wise move.

      1. @fastiesty The tyres should NOT be created to give the faster cars more degredation to stop them winning, That would just be as artificial & gimmickey as success ballast!

        The tyres should work the same for everyone & the best car having more downforce/grip should not put it at a disadvantage via more tyre wear by stupid tyres artificially designed to fall to pieces which in itself is an absurd & ridiculously artificial gimmick to start with & along with the more absurd gimmick known as DRS a big part of why i no longer watch every F1 race after 35 years of been a massive fan!

    4. Pat Ruadh (@fullcoursecaution)
      2nd January 2015, 14:44

      Refuelling was fine in my opinion, back when it was an unknown quantity, and a lesser car could underfuel and grab a few extra grid spots. The year when they displayed every drivers ‘fuel position’ was a total race-ruiner. Regarding tyres, I feel the best possible scenario would be for the softest tyre to last 4-5 laps, and the hardest tyre to almost be able to run to the finish in Monza in the hands of a super gentle driver like Checo. If this were to happen, we could abandon this ‘run both types’ nonsense and let the strategies develop naturally.

      1. @fullcoursecaution All refueling ever did was move the racing off the track & into the pits, It was simply awful for the racing & all the overtaking statistics show this. On-track overtaking plummeted from race #1 of refueling (As most passing started to be done in the pits) & shot back up as soon as it was banned in 2010.

        I want to watch cars racing out on the track & not sitting in the pits for 6-10 seconds refueling & I also want all of the racing to be done on the track & not have fuel strategy take preference over that as it did in the refueling era.

        Schumacher’s 4 stop strategy at france 2004 was interesting for those who love strategy, but it was dreadful for those who love racing as you had the 2 guys fighting for the win racing thin air as they were nowhere near one another on the track after about 10 laps & the eventual pass for the win was in the pits.
        I could cite many, many similar examples of racing been ruined by the nonsense refueling.

        Nobody wanted refueling was Bernie forced it through for ‘the show’ & I for one was certainly not sorry to see it go after 2009, F1 & the on-track racing is far better for its ban & I hope it never returns to F1!!!!

        1. Pat Ruadh (@fullcoursecaution)
          2nd January 2015, 19:23

          I’m not advocating a return to refuelling by any means (one flame-grilled Verstappen is plenty), but personally I feel strategy battles are closer to real racing than a myriad of DRS (Death of Racing Skill) passes. Ideally there would be no refuelling and no DRS, and Pirelli would bring 3 or 4 dry compounds to each weekend and let the teams second guess each other on Saturday. It would shake up the order as the big teams would play it safe with mids/hards, and the minnows might gamble on an early SC and take the high-degs (as well as redesign the regs to make the cars more blunt and dirty-air friendly to encourage on track action).

        2. Hallelujah and amen to that, @dizzy.

  2. I think Pirelli achieved the definitive “show” tyre in 2013 but it had a major design flaw. For 2014 I think Pirelli should look at Brazil 2014, look at the absense of marbles and actual rubbering effect, but deal with blistering and tyre safety, otherwise they have been more fair of late but this time around the title was not in discussion.

    1. Yeh, I loved that tyre, whether it was ‘show’ or not. It was the same for everyone and was providing some incredible racing.

  3. Here we go, Toto trying to send a Message to Lewis? If they can’t agree though, why would Mercedes go for Alonso? I personally think Ricciardo would be a much better pick than both Alonso and Bottas. Anyway, no sense speculating as I think it’s a non-story, but I just hope Lewis does not lock himself into a ridiculously long contract like Alonso did at Ferrarri. Who knows, if he had had a short contract maybe Merc would have gone for him instead of Lewis in the first place.

    1. Why would Daniel move to Mercedes?
      RBR’s chassis is just as good, if not better than Merc’s. Plus, redbull’s commitment to F1 does not seem to have slowed down just yet.

      Give Daniel a good run at RedBull first. Then he might look at something else. But for now, it is his best choice.

      Bottas’ case on the other hand. Williams has improved a lot. However, we do not know whether they can keep up with the development race.
      Could Bottas be the bext Alonso? I think so. He stays cool, is intelligent, fast and seems very mature.

      Alonso is a great bet. But one has to wonder if he is about to get past his prime and start “slowing down”.

      1. @brunes I don’t think that Alonso is past his prime. He is 33. Senna and Prost had their best seasons at ages 33 and 37, and that was when the cars were a more demanding physically, whereas now, even 17 year-olds can drive it.

        1. @mashiat @drmouse

          I do not think Alonso is past his prime. I think he is probably at the peak of his career.
          I don’t know who ciuld have done a better job at Ferrari during the past years.

          That is why I said “wonder if he is about to get past his prime”
          Meaning, in my eyes, he is at his prime now and there is only one way you can go once you reach the peak of a mountain.

          1. @brunes @drmouse @mashiat @blackmamba 2012-14 was Alonso’s best 3 years yet. True, you can only go backwards from there, but he should still be able to beat Rosberg for another few years. At that point, Mercedes can bring in a peak Bottas or promote a junior like Wehrlein as a replacement.

      2. Alonso is a great bet. But one has to wonder if he is about to get past his prime and start “slowing down”.

        I would beg to differ. I’m not a fan, but he seems to me to be near his peak.

        Of course it is difficult to say considering how bad the Ferrari has been this year.

    2. RIC will not be available anyway. We(fans) should respect contracts. Actually big teams and drivers always respect contracts.

    3. @blackmamba Rosberg is a much more dedicated driver towards Mercedes than Lewis… If Lewis loses next year, its highly probable that he will ditch Mercedes

      1. Exactly how do you know he’s less committed than Nico?

        Lewis has been a part of the Mercedes family since he was 12, so I’d say he’s more committed to them than Nico.

      2. Why is Nico more committed? Because he left a struggling Williams team to join a team the year before that had won both titles. Do you think in 2011/2012 if Red Bull had came knocking at his door he would of stayed at Merc? Don’t be silly, any driver will put themselves in the best seat available to them.

        As for your reasoning, if Lewis was indeed like that, then why didn’t he leave Mclaren at the end of 09,10,11? 2012 was the only year they gave him a half decent car that was semi capable of winning a championship not just the odd race, and it was still off the top and unreliable. So to say Lewis doesn’t dedicate himself to the team he at if he isn’t winning is just unfounded.

  4. ColdFly F1 (@)
    2nd January 2015, 9:05

    you should read ‘Old Mo’s Almanac 2015’; it’s hilarious.

    March 2015:

    Jenson Button waits three days at Heathrow before finally getting seat on Melbourne flight with standby ticket issued by McLaren.

    1. @coldfly I’m really glad he’s started doing those again. Apparently Ayrton Senna got in a huff about one of them in the eighties because he didn’t realise it was a spoof!

    2. And this-

      Maurizio Gobadli arrested for having team of unemployed Ferrari test drivers pushing packs of Marlboro Full Flavor in Paddock Club at Monza.
      Read more at http://en.espnf1.com/blogs/motorsport/story/188153.html#BEFG3I1P49kS7ggm.99

    3. Loved that one, many thanks for the link, Keith.

    4. I loved it!
      “Speculation about Adrian Newey’s influence over 2015 F1 car when Red Bull advertise for Able Bodied Seamen and ask for applications to be sent to Admiral Horatio Newey and Captain Christian Hornblower.”

  5. Re: COTD:

    Try F1.com the official site. They have loads of cheap merchandise designed exactly to engage young fans. Oh, wait…

    1. I remember getting one with a copy of f1 magazine, maybe they’ll do it again before the season begins?

    2. @mattb “2015 F1 Calendar, with Rolex imagery… £499” “Is that £4.99?” “No, £499”.

    3. What’s with “Bernie’s traditional Christmas cards” on the site?

    4. I think the Sun usually does a pull out of sorts.

  6. I’d rather the tyres be more like they were last year to be honest.

    I don’t mind a bit of tyre degredation but I absolutely cannot stand it when the tyres are like they were in 2012/13 where they were the primary talking point every weekend & where if often felt like the tyres were the deciding factor in the performance order of the teams each weekend (As in early 2012).

    For the most part in 2014 I felt the tyre were about right, There was a big of degredation but it never felt like it was too much & it never really felt like it was been created artificially for the show as it did in 12/13. I’d also argue that the quality of the racing last year was the best we have seen in the pirelli-era with a lot of proper racing & a lot less of the big tyre saving & tyre generated really easy passing we saw in 12/13.

  7. Can people please stop bashing Pirelli.

    They have done a fine job for 2014 and they seem to know what they are doing so far. Leave them alone, and if they produce a rubbish tyre, then criticise them.

    I wouldn’t mind them keeping more or less the same tyres as last year. Maybe slightly more durable, but otherwise they were great. People are saying how it wasn’t good with the graining in Brazil, but to be honest if the FIA and Bernie are looking for ways to “improve the show” then that was a good one!

    1. Oh and improved wet tyres. They weren’t particularly great, but in fairness they weren’t given a great chance to test those.

    2. they seem to know what they are doing so far

      2012 & 2013 suggest otherwise, The tyres those 2 years were simply horrid for different reasons.

      The 2 best years were when they went conservative which perhaps shows how big a nonsense the designed to fall to pieces tyre concept is!

      The tyres should be designed to be the best they can possibly be, Having them designed to fall to bits after a few laps is absurd.
      Having the most technologically advanced, fastest racing cars running around on sub-par tyres which cannot last more than 10-15 laps is a complete & utter joke & a big reason why many other racing categories are now above F1 in my view!

      1. 2012 is easily one of my favourite seasons.

        Those tyres completely shook the grid up. It wasn’t about ‘how much money can you throw at the problem’, it was about trying to work these tyres out with some brainpower!

        I loved it. I think people perhaps looked at it the wrong way… It was the SAME for everyone.

        1. The early part of 2012 was just gimmickey & artificial, I saw no redeeming point about it & it was about that time I simply turned F1 off for the most part as it became clear to me it was heading in the nascar style pure show/entertainment direction which i have zero interest in.

          Having teams/drivers handicapped each weekend because they can’t get the tyres to work & simply cannot figure out why made F1 look like a total joke.
          You had Williams winning at Spain because they lucked into the tyre’s operating window & again had no idea how they had done so & were never that competitive anywhere else, Again an utter farce!

          Having tyres intentionally designed that way is nothing but artificial & gimickey & has no place in F1.

          1. I would disagree about the assertion that Williams’s victory in the Spanish GP was purely down to luck, because Williams were fairly competitive in a number of races but both they and their drivers managed to find ways of throwing it away.

            Don’t forget that Maldonado had several opportunities to take podium finishes that season – he could have finished at least 3rd in the European GP if he hadn’t collided with Hamilton and could have finished in 3rd again in Singapore if the car hadn’t broken down and both team and driver threw away several potential top six finishing positions due to errors.

  8. I’m pretty tired of people complaining about Pirelli. Pirelli is not even a clown in Bernie’s circus. Pirelli does what is told to, even if the order is making the worst tires ever (2013). This is no good “advertising”. The problem with Pirelli is its Italian heritage. Just like Ferrari. They are stubborn and will stick with F1 forever and ever. Michelin, Bridgestone…they come and go just like Renault whenever is good for them…
    In 2013 engine-wise (development) everything was kind of set. That’s why Bernie needed tires to “run the show”. In 2014 with the new PU tires could afford to be reliable again. But in 2015…with less expected DNF (personally I think retirement ratio was low in 2014 considering the changes introduced, so I expect less of them in 2015) my guess is that tires will not hold as 2014.

    As a racing fan…My ideal rules…..

    1) Load as much fuel as you want. No refueling. Cars should hold 1 liter to test after the race.
    2) Use tire compound that you want. No pit stop required.
    3) No fluid rate consumption rule.
    4) Get rid of the “electric” part of the PU. No KERS no TERS…just the engine.
    5) No radio contact with driver at all.
    6) No data sharing through driving wheel.

    The problem with my rules….aero will rule.
    Basically…the team that hires Newey wins.
    And the other problem is Bernie and freaking ad money.

    1. Why is there an obsession with getting rid of radios? Two way radios have been in the sport for over thirty years (they have been there since at least 1983), it’s only the fact that we now have access to the radio transmissions that some seem to think there is a problem.

  9. Linda_Williams
    2nd January 2015, 17:17

    Since 2011 i’ve become completely tired of all the talk been about tyres.

    Can we please go back to the time when tyres were just black & round & didn’t need to be talked about 1000 times a race weekend.

    No wonder F1 is losing popularity around the globe since 2011.

  10. I wonder if the decline in popularity has more to do with f1 no longer being free to watch rather than the tyres

    1. Linda_Williams
      3rd January 2015, 13:40

      f1’s popularity has declined even in places where f1 has remained on free tv.

      in germany every race is still shown on free tv channel rtl yet since 2011 there tv viewing numbers have plummeted.

  11. If anybody ever had any doubt what the delays with re-signing Hamilton was really about, there it is..

    Notice how it’s now: “There’s no hurry, we’ll discuss it during the year”, whereas before it was to get a deal done before 2015 season start and even right after 2014 season end if you remember.

    Mercedes is stalling to re-sign Hamilton and the official “so that the discussions would not get in the way of the title battle” is of course rubbish since they did so with Rosberg.

    The plan is obviously to get Alonso in for 2016 and to let negotiations to “break down”. They couldn’t really do it right after Hamilton won the championship as that would look bad so they postponed it.

    This is what Alonso was waiting for would happen – and why McLaren waited so long for him – but it couldn’t be done now so they got a deal with Alonso at least for a year. No doubt McLaren pushed their end of the deal as well so that even if Alonso got some nice exit clauses, they will try to ensure his staying by making sure the team score the required no. of points which explains them retaining Button.

    1. You are overcomplicating what is a simple negotiating tactic; EMPLOYEE ” I’m the best so I am worth $5X,” EMPLOYER ” We are the best, so we can hire anyone we like for $3X, sign here”.

  12. This is just the usual statement from the Pirelli and an another advertisement for them.

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