[smr2018test]
Rising track temperatures at the Circuit de Catalunya today produced some surprising developments in tyre performance for F1 drivers.
Air temperatures reached 19C on the fifth day of pre-season testing and the track warmed up to around 30C. Though considerably warmer than last week’s freezing conditions, it remains below what drivers can expect to encounter at most of this years’ races.
“The soft tyre, rear tyres, blistered in this cold weather, it’s not what you expect,” said the Haas driver. “So that’s pretty surprising.”
Magnussen also reported “a lot of graining on the front-left [tyre] as well for us.”
“I don’t know about other teams. We are struggling a bit to manage the tyres. They don’t heat up very quickly, you can’t get the lap time on the first lap, yet they blister and grain like held.”
Magnussen suspects the low track temperature and the new surface at the Circuit de Catalunya contributed to their tyre problems. These were particularly apparent when he tried a practice start from the grid at the end of the session.
“The restart stuff we did at the end was impossible,” he said. “It wouldn’t have been possible to do that in a race.”
“I couldn’t get my tyres to work at all, I nearly couldn’t even get going from zero I was just wheel-spinning. I wouldn’t have been able to get heat into my tyres. Hopefully it’ll be warmer in the race here.”
Getting the tyres to work on the resurfaced track was “the biggest challenge” of today’s running, according to Lewis Hamilton. “The medium tyre was difficult to get working; the soft tyre is better for warm-up, but suffered with degradation.”
Pierre Gasly also reported high degradation on the softer rubber being used this year.
“The grip is good but degradations is pretty high, especially with these new tyres,” said the Toro Rosso driver. “There are still a few things we need to understand, they are quite different compared to last year.”
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anon
6th March 2018, 20:46
Given the cold temperatures, I half wonder whether what Magnussen and some of the other drivers are experiencing is a case of cold graining instead? I can recall that has happened a few times at Barcelona, not just now but in previous years as well (I can recall that Bridgestone had fairly big problems with cold graining in some years, leading to people over-predicting the wear rates in subsequent races).
DrG
6th March 2018, 21:13
Not so sure – those pics are classic heat blisters – available at any other series near you in all honesty.
Could be the surface but warm up issues plus this?
Are we back in the Pirelli Championship yet again?
When are they going to build proper race rubber?
Bonbonjai
6th March 2018, 23:06
Drug
Oh no. Yet again. The racing hasn’t started yet, and already we have complaints about the pirreli tyres. Let’s just hope it’s just the new surface.
F1 performance (@patent)
6th March 2018, 22:05
If the Pirelli’s and FIA’s goal is to reach 2-3 pit in every race tyres will be: “The grip is good but degradations is pretty high” as Gasly said.
AJ Pennypacker
6th March 2018, 23:33
If the tyres are not performing properly at 19C I can’t even imagine what it will be like at 35, 40, 45C in places like Abu Dhabi, Bahrain, and Singapore.
Jere (@jerejj)
7th March 2018, 3:25
@AJ Pennypacker The temperatures don’t get that high in those venues when those races take place, though, not even in daytime, so you’re exaggerating a bit, LOL. The daytime temperates in Abu Dhabi, for example, in November vary in the range of 27-30 degrees Celcius.
socksolid (@socksolid)
7th March 2018, 0:46
It is possible that pirelli underestimated the tire wear caused by the new smooth tarmac and the cold weather then made it worse. I mean we had snow on the track during the test. Hardly the perfect conditions!