Lewis Hamilton raved about Pirelli’s new hyper-soft tyre compound after testing it for the first time at Yas Marina.
“On early impression, the new hyper-soft is the best tyre that Pirelli have produced since returning to F1,” said Hamilton after covering 136 laps on a range of different tyres during today’s test.
However Hamilton believes F1’s official tyre supplier could go even softer with its choice of rubber. “I found that the other compounds are still a bit too hard for my liking,” he said, “but we’re moving in the right direction.”
“I’m not really the biggest fan of testing,” he added, “but it’s been a positive first day of running with these new tyres.”
“We managed to complete plenty of laps and collected lots of data and feedback to ensure we head in the right direction over the winter. We’ve got a good early understanding of these 2018 Pirelli tyres.”
The world champion completed his final laps of 2017 in today’s test. “It’s a nice way to wrap up the season, with one last day in the W08,” he said. “I’m definitely ready to take a break now, though.”
2017 F1 season
- Sepang pays Haas compensation for Grosjean’s 2017 crash
- Williams revenues rose in 2017 after Bottas deal with Mercedes
- Australian Grand Prix cost government £56 million last year
- “Grand Prix Driver” takes you inside McLaren’s nightmare final year with Honda
- Undisputed champion: 10 titles name Hamilton top driver of 2017
David BR (@david-br)
28th November 2017, 15:23
We’d never have been able to tell.
Jere (@jerejj)
28th November 2017, 19:29
@david-br +1.
Sensord4notbeingafanboi (@peartree)
29th November 2017, 2:28
@david-br +2
I think he couldn’t concoct another bad foot and a cold in UAE is highly unlikely.
bosyber (@bosyber)
29th November 2017, 9:39
Well, airconditioning does tend to be a useful tool for that cold, @peartree
Phylyp (@phylyp)
28th November 2017, 15:44
Ah, some much-needed good news about Pirelli.
I do wish they bring softer tyres to 2018 GPs, to force more pit stops.
Markp
28th November 2017, 18:41
Yes but then everyone will moan. They only pit when tyres are worn so loads of people will say the tyres are rubbish as they do not last. Fans want tyre stops for tyres that do not degrade. Damned if they do damned if they don’t.
Michael Brown (@)
28th November 2017, 16:28
I wonder if the hypersoft will be soft enough that Monaco will become a 2 stop race.
Man United_Vettel (@siegfreyco)
29th November 2017, 11:33
@mbr-9 For years(except this year), 1 stop has been slower than 2 stops in Monaco in pure pace but the fear is really getting into traffic. Even intermediate tyre runner were having difficulty overtaking wet runners such as Hamilton vs Ricciardo and Vettel vs. Massa.
Neil (@neilosjames)
28th November 2017, 16:35
I don’t think I’ll ever get used to the name. The biggest issue is that it sounds ridiculous, but it also bothers me because I don’t believe ‘hyper’ should be the most extreme in a series which also includes ‘ultra’.
Obviously that’s low on my ‘things F1 needs to improve’ list, but it still gets a mention…
Sven (@crammond)
28th November 2017, 17:07
@neilosjames It is of the uttermost importance that every F1-commentary gets a sample of Scooter’s “Hyper Hyper“, so that the commentators themselves don’t need to say it themselves, but we hear it in HP Baxxter’s voice instead.
DaveD (@daved)
28th November 2017, 20:34
They should have called them “plaid”. 😎
DonSmee (@david-beau)
29th November 2017, 2:31
By definition, hyper is the next step above ultra, so the nomenclature is correct.
Ben Needham (@ben-n)
28th November 2017, 16:55
I’d like to see each car given one set of every tyre per Grand Prix weekend (maybe an extra set of a harder compound for practice) and let them do what they like. No mandatory pit stop needed and would surely generate a huge range of strategies including qualifying.
Have the softest tyre be blindingly fast but only last 5 laps, have the hardest be reasonably slow but last the whole race and then range the tyres in between accordingly.
This to me seems a great way to “spice up the show” without resorting to artificial measures. Am I missing anything obvious? Logistics perhaps…?
Phylyp (@phylyp)
28th November 2017, 17:02
@ben-n – ha ha, nice one. It would definitely ramp up the uncertainty around strategies, and will be fun to see how teams try and deny information on their starting set to competitors.
SM
28th November 2017, 17:26
In this era of calculation there probably wouldn’t be much variation. Teams will have calculated the optimum choice and they’d all go with that
matt
28th November 2017, 18:06
no pit stops required eh?, Get ready to spend an hour and a half watching people conserve a single set of tires for the whole race then.
matt
28th November 2017, 18:06
no pit stops required eh?, Get ready to spend an hour and a half watching people conserve a single set of tires for the whole race then.
Clay
29th November 2017, 0:03
Watch the 1990 French GP on YouTube and see a Leyton House on no stops almost beat Prost in a Ferrari who did. I reckon it was exciting to watch. Couldn’t be more boring than that last race…
Robbie (@robbie)
28th November 2017, 18:39
Hey @ben-n I think your proposal would be interesting but yes I think not logistically feasible. They’d be bringing compounds of tires that will never be considered for use at that specific track. I think they have to draw the line at how many tires they can drag around the globe.
And while it would be intriguing to see a great variety of strategies, I’m not sure that the audience in general would like to not know where any of the teams/cars/drivers stand in the race until the last handful of laps when all the different strategies finally reveal themselves as having been successful or not. Passes being made strictly because it was not an apples to apples comparison. I’d like to see driver vs driver more.
I remain steadfast that we ‘just’ need a ratio between aero and mechanical grip that favours mechanical grip more, so that cars are less negatively affected in dirty air. So I’m thrilled to read what LH has said about these new tires, and I hope they will be less finicky in terms of the operating temp window, so that they can actually use these tires for say half a stint instead of a few laps, before they have to sit back away from dirty air to preserve them.
Unfortunately we’ve had better tires in the past and that hasn’t been the be all and end all, because the guy ahead is also on said good tires and the guy behind still sits in dirty air handcuffed. They MUST move toward emphasizing aero less and mechanical grip more.
@HoHum (@hohum)
28th November 2017, 23:23
+1.
MrBoerns (@mrboerns)
28th November 2017, 17:10
Just rename the Supersoft to Hard, Ultra Soft to Medium, Hypersoft to soft and scrap the rest. It would be so simple. End the madness!
MrBoerns (@mrboerns)
28th November 2017, 17:13
Oh, and throw in a batch of Mega-Ultra-Softs as well, but call them qualifyers and make them 10s faster but they fall apart after one lap. Perfect.
dave
28th November 2017, 17:22
ha ha
+1
Mick
29th November 2017, 0:05
And drop the pansy pink colour
Todfod (@todfod)
29th November 2017, 6:45
Looks great on the Force India
RB13
29th November 2017, 9:41
A shocking fuchsia shade would look far better on both the tyre and on the Force India than the carebear pink they have both opted for.
Philip (@philipgb)
28th November 2017, 17:49
Anyone who’s played Street Fighter II knows it should go hyper, turbo, super, then super turbo.
Pirelli’s naming scheme is ridiculous.
Ninjenius (@ninjenius)
29th November 2017, 20:23
@philipgb But anyone who’s played Sonic the Hedgehog knows it’s Super Sonic then Hyper Sonic :P
F1Codger
28th November 2017, 20:06
Sticky, Very Sticky, Octogrip, Limpet, Extra Limpet, and Stargravity tyres and minimal aero, motoring nirvana.
Kenny
28th November 2017, 21:43
>”I’m not the biggest fan of testing”
Well, that’s interesting when you think that Lewis (as well as Vettel, Alonso, Raikonnen, et. al.) came into F1 during a period of unlimited testing, which included the current cars. I think we have to consider the disadvantage that today’s young drivers face without having those opportunities. Of course, I realize that testing was limited to curtail costs. However, I think that F1 could get creative and work on implementing an expanded testing program on current cars for rookie F1 drivers. I think it would be very beneficial to all aspects of the sport.