Aston Martin begins first test of F1’s smaller new tyres for 2026

35 comments on “Aston Martin begins first test of F1’s smaller new tyres for 2026”

1. 

   Tristan (@skipgamer)
   18th September 2024, 0:39

   Why risk drivers having to throw one up the inside when they could just have an easier time by pressing buttons in FIA designated passing zones.

   What a weird take to have… I don’t understand how anyone can be against DRS on the whole now.

   The pressing the buttons is what allows drivers to take the risk to throw one up the inside, just in case you haven’t been paying attention the last 10 years. They’re hoping for that to only get better with those new regulations.
   1. 

      PeterG
      18th September 2024, 2:19

      I’m against DRS because it’s a silly artificial gimmick that has hurt the racing far more than it’s ever helped it.

      I just don’t find any enjoyment in the fake racing & boring highway passes it far too often creates.

      Plus i just don’t like how it’s altered the racing by putting all the focus into 1 second gaps at specific lines drawn on the track by the FIA.

      It was so nice when DRS was switched off at Imola was it last year and the focus was on the entire circuit with drivers having to look at overtaking in different places rather than just all the focus been on the DRS zone. We saw some good racing and overtaking attempts around the circuit without DRS & as soon as it was enabled that stopped.

      I just detest DRS, always have and likely always will. It is one of the main reasons i care less about F1 today than i did in 2010.

      DRS isn’t good racing because quantity generated by artificial gimmicks will never be as interesting, exciting or memorable as quality that comes from organic racing.
      1. 

         MacLeod (@macleod)
         18th September 2024, 7:46

         I am against DRS on how they are using NOW if they want to promote racing it should be free to be used ONLY limited say a race with 71 laps 36 times on request…
         So you can use it to defend BUT if you used up all times a smarter driver is going to win against you…
   2. 

      Dex
      18th September 2024, 3:14

      I’ve been paying attention, and we had much more entertaining battles when DRS was off (like that race when they had technical issues or something, so many people wished it was always like that). Plus DRS overtakes do nothing for me. I’m a quality over quantity guy, but DRS trains kind of reduce quantity too.
      Not just that DRS overtakes are mostly boring and a smooth ride, but because of that drivers rarely risk trying something else, and rather save their tires and battery for a motorway style overtakes.
      Even F1 guys understood that DRS should go.
      1. 

         Rhys Lloyd (@justrhysism)
         18th September 2024, 3:45

         Tell that to Piastri and Leclrec.
      2. 

         Jere (@jerejj)
         18th September 2024, 6:28

         Dex – Far from mostly.

         PeterG – Even the 2022 Imola GP didn’t feature a single easy-looking pass when DRS finally got enabled.

         People simply love to exaggerate reality, even though it’s been overpowered only on a handful of circuit sections over these years, namely the Kemmel straight.
   3. 

      notagrumpyfan
      18th September 2024, 8:20

      You should read the CotD again.

      Looking back to last year didn’t we actually see some good bits of racing and a few real overtakes on this section of track without the DRS gimmick?

      It’s clearly referring to overtakes without DRS.
      There might be less overtakes, but at let’s it is fair racing.
2. 

   SM
   18th September 2024, 0:41

   It’s a AMR22 from the 2022 season
3. 

   Levente (@leventebandi)
   18th September 2024, 1:07

   Still don’t get the anglo obsession with Chadwick. There are younger and more talented girls out there, in the last 5 years she is basically just squatting on sponsors and possibilities other female racers would benefit from instead, just because people believe the hype english media throws around her.
   Re: COTD: Totally my feelings as well. Also what baffled me the reasoning for last year, FIA fearing people would try the kink full throttle… Stop babysitting the drivers, why they want to defend the racers from themselves. They are the highest paid race car drivers ever they can judge it, and if they missjudge it (as stroll would eventually) they will pay a price in the safest cars ever. Even though this is one of the best and most exciting seasons in the past decade, the constant nonsense about not letting drivers race, selectively applying rules, the missed balance between a celebrity festival for the elite and having a race at the same time are driving further and further from the sport to the point I reduced my activity to watch only the races and just checking on the qualy results for example afterwards, while I’ve watched every session as I was able to in the previous 15 years
   1. 

      Nick T.
      18th September 2024, 3:06

      Well, the article only mentioned her aspirations. Not any interest from other teams. Since she’s not a classic Barbie, if she gets disproportional interest and opps vs comparable or better driver, odds are it is down to the size of the bankroll behind her just like with the boys (that and/or a famous last name).
4. 

   Jay
   18th September 2024, 1:09

   Indy NXT had 16 full time cars this year, half were piloted by rookies. Jamie Chadwick finished 7th with 310 points(1 win). The leader Louis Foster had 639 points(8 wins). Not exactly exciting numbers.
5. 

   PeterG
   18th September 2024, 2:08

   Won’t reducing the tire width and therefore the grip generated by them not therefore shift the balance more towards aero dependency which would therefore hurt the racing a bit.

   Larger grippier tyres with less aero dependence would surely be a better way to go racing wise would it not?
   1. 

      Nick T.
      18th September 2024, 3:07

      Likely not as simple as all that, but maybe it is.
   2. 

      bosyber (@bosyber)
      18th September 2024, 10:14

      We already tried that in 2016 (yes, as part of a bigger package); it made the cars heavier (wheels and tyres,and the suspension and it’s mountings), and the tyres arguable even more of an important part of the races than they already where since we have had Pirelli in, so I am not against going for lighter ones again now.
   3. 

      Asd
      18th September 2024, 17:53

      No no no!
      Less grip does not mean more aero dependency! It means more mechanical grip dependency!
      I’m exhausted from explaining this to people.

      Just imagine what wet asphalt (aka less mechanical grip) does to racing.
      Does it produce less… or MORE overtaking???
      It produces more!!!
      1. 

         KaIIe (@kaiie)
         18th September 2024, 19:23

         Indeed. Another simplified version is to imagine the current cars with bicycle tyres (or something from the 1930s). The cars would be sliding all the time, as they could not rely on the aero grip to push them down.
      2. 

         Nick T.
         19th September 2024, 2:17

         Kind of why all the best racing is seen with cars that have absolutely zero aero aids.
6. 

   Nick T.
   18th September 2024, 3:02

   Nice, give Newey a head start!
7. 

   Nick T.
   18th September 2024, 5:12

   PS: Can we all agree, barring a miracle, the WDC is over? Even if in the last 7 GPs, Lando is amazing and takes 4x P1s, 3x P2s, 3x sprint P1s (152 points total) and Max just averages P5 (+ P3 in the 3 sprints), that’s 102 points…leaving Norris trailing by 9 points. Even taking every FLAP (not happening), he’s still 2 points short.
   1. 

      Jere (@jerejj)
      18th September 2024, 6:29

      Indeed too little too late under normal circumstances.
8. 

   Jere (@jerejj)
   18th September 2024, 6:29

   Even though the width difference is only marginal, it’s still noticeable by a quick look.
9. 

   Not dense
   18th September 2024, 8:05

   Ugly and pointless. If anything the cars should be made 2.2m wide like the old days (current f1 is the second narrowest ever) and use the extra width to move battery and engine and fuel tank around and make the cars shorter. There is absolutely no value to thinner f1 cars, that was never the issue.

   The issue is the length and also the fact that they don’t produce enough natural slip stream anymore, which is another argument in favour of making the cars wider and ideally making the tyres wider so they punch a bigger hole in the air and have more grip that is not reliant on aero.

   It’s hilarious to me that they think that reducing tyre width is anything other than making the dirty air issue even worse. Everyone doing the rules needs to be fired.
   1. 

      Nick T.
      18th September 2024, 14:51

      Are you sure about that. Pretty sure these cars are not only the longest ever, but among the widest too.
      1. 

         anon
         18th September 2024, 20:23

         Nick T., the current cars are not the widest cars that have existed – in 1976, the FIA ruled that cars could have a maximum width of 2.15m, which then crept up to 2.20m in the 1980s. That regulation then stayed in place until 1992, with the cars reduced to 2.0m width in 1993, before 1998 then saw the width reduced further to 1.8m.

         The claim that the cars are therefore the second narrowest is therefore wrong, as their current width of 2.0m makes them the joint third widest cars that have existed.

         Additionally, the comment that the tyres “ideally making the tyres wider so they punch a bigger hole in the air” is questionable. The front tyres are, I believe, already the widest that have been fitted to an F1 car, whilst the rear tyres are close to the widest used (wider rear tyres were used at the end of the 1970s and early 1980s though).

         The proposed reduction in tyre widths for 2026 would bring the tyres to pretty much the same width as used in the 1990s, which is the period that the poster in question seems to yearn for – so, in that respect, they’re doing exactly what they want.
         1. 

            Nick T.
            20th September 2024, 0:13

            Thank you for sharing all that info. Extremely interesting.

            When thinking of how width specs has changed, I was thinking of the modern aero era, which IMO, begins with the 1988 March 881 (what most think of as the first Leyton House). I did imagine some of the 70s cars like the Beta March cars being super wide.
   2. 

      Johns
      18th September 2024, 17:27

      I just cant figure out why narrower tires. They are bumping up the hybrid power, got full ground effects, struggle with overheating tires, cant run the super softs anyways because the give up before a lap is over, and now they want to exasperate all of that with smaller tires? At least we dont have those 13” balloons anymore.

      What we need is a good old fashion tire war again between tire manufacturers.
10. 

    Coventry Climax
    18th September 2024, 8:51

    Aston Martin begins first test of F1’s smaller new tyres for 2026

    While the 18-inch wheel size will remain unchanged the new tyres have been reduced in width by 30mm at the rear and 25mm at the front.

    That means that by definition, the term should be ‘narrower’, not ‘smaller’.
    Also, ‘wheel size’, that could be anything that measures up to 18 inch, like tyre width, or circumference, or any other thing. The word is ‘diameter’ here.

    Why is it so hard to consistently use the technically correct and defining words for aspects of race cars in a technical environment?

    Using the wrong terms is not particularly adding to an overall sense of professionalism and ‘they know what they’re talking about’.
11. 

    Coventry Climax
    18th September 2024, 9:22

    With the contact patches between tyres and tarmac, and specifically the friction between those two being the only thing that keeps race cars on track through turns as well as being the only thing that provides both traction and braking power, making those contact patches smaller means less cornering speed, less traction and longer braking zones.
    Teams and F1 race car designers will undoubtedly want to compensate that loss, or they’ll suffer from higher lap times.

    There’s basically just two parameters to achieve that.
    Grippier rubber compound is one of them, but that poses problems with tyre longevity, and -therefor- tyre integrity. Given Pirelli’s track record, let’s just ignore this one: Either won’t happen or will amount to disaster – again. Actually, my personal guess would be both.
    The other parameter to bring the friction back up to level, is downforce. That will have to come from the car shape and its wings. So the cars will need to generate more downforce.

    Is less grip necessarily bad for racing? I don’t think so, as for example, longer braking zones provide more outbraking and overtaking opportunity.
    Less grip though, is also easily achieved with tougher tyre compounds, which in turn will make them take a beating more effectively, therefor adds to safety and also cuts down on the amount of tyres needed to race the distance.

    The FiA are constantly reigning in design space for engineers, but over the entire history of F1, that is a battle they have never won, and won’t ever win. As a regulatory body, they will always run afer the facts.
    Therefor, downforce levels will rise again, and with that, so will the amount of problems with tyre integrity and the level of dirty air that the cars leave behind.

    So thank you, FiA, for setting the stage again to have everyone think DRS is a necessity, where in the end, it’s only your own silly choices that make this a self fulfilling prophecy.
    1. 

       MichaelN
       18th September 2024, 12:44

       The FIA has rubber stamped this Liberty-made car spec, so it’s not really fair to pin its flaws on them. It’s Brawn, Symonds and others working for Liberty who made this spec, and now fail to keep updating it. Which they promised they would do.

       The FIA has actually been pretty successful at managing the regulations. Since the early 1990s specs have mostly been the same, in broad strokes of course, while allowing for car and engine (mostly) development.
       1. 

          Coventry Climax
          18th September 2024, 20:06

          It is the FiA that’s ultimately responsible for the rules. So even if what you say is the case, it is no excuse. They apparently couldn’t take the pressure, just gave in and ‘rubber stamped’ these rules.

          Well, if they can’t take the pressure, they’re too weak and should either get their act together and be stronger, or be replaced.
          Talking about pressure and not being able to withstand it: The FiA have a long history with this, e.g. with Pirelli.
12. 

    Bullfrog (@bullfrog)
    18th September 2024, 10:37

    I hope the new tyres are narrower on the outside and not the inside. That could make passing easier for racers like Piastri. I think his wins will be into double figures by 2026.
    1. 

       Coventry Climax
       18th September 2024, 20:13

       @bullfrog
       I don’t think that is the case, but even if it were, it depends entirely on the construction of the walls of the tyres.
       Technically, the shape you suggest may make it more easy to create a tyre that withstands high sideways forces, but given they will be made by Pirelli, I doubt it would make a difference.
13. 

    stefano (@alfa145)
    19th September 2024, 0:05

    Aston Martin 2026 WCC confirmed, I guess
14. 

    EffWunFan (@cairnsfella)
    19th September 2024, 2:24

    Why the harsh comments about Chadwick. Does she need to be leading to be doing a good job?

    I thought she had a great season. There are at least a further 8 drivers that wold have preferred to finish in her position (i.e. those below that contended the full season). Sure the top 3 were well out of reach, but the other 3 above her were not far away.
    1. 

       EffWunFan (@cairnsfella)
       19th September 2024, 2:26

       I would probably add that perhaps she is not ready for a full Indy drive next season, but I also think she would be good enough not to finish bottom (car dependant).

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