Kimi Raikkonen and Pascal Wehrlein have sampled Pirelli’s wider development tyres for 2017 in test at two different circuits.
Ferrari and Mercedes conducted dry-weather tests of the prototype 2017 sizes at the Circuit de Catalunya in Spain and Paul Ricard in France respectively. Ferrari covered 111 laps and Mercedes completed 134.
This is the first time Mercedes have sampled the wider constructions. The world champions are conducting all of the in-season tyre testing for 2017 along with Ferrari and Red Bull.
The tests will continue tomorrow and Mercedes will return to Paul Ricard later this month for further development work on the 2017 rubber.
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
spafrancorchamps
6th September 2016, 15:14
This ain’t cars on wheels anymore. It’s wheels with a little bit of car.
Ian Bond (@ianbond001)
6th September 2016, 19:05
yep, those rears look badass!!!
Dmitry (@)
6th September 2016, 16:37
Maybe the racing will not improve the next year, but at least they will look like proper monsters!
skylien (@skylien)
6th September 2016, 16:44
Dragster like exhausts are missing, just behind the air box coming out on top/side of the chassis.. ;)
Johnny H.
6th September 2016, 16:54
The cars should be fitted at least with a 2.4 liter ICE to be called a “monster”. Then at least they sound like a monster!
GeeMac (@geemac)
6th September 2016, 17:15
They’d sound like monsters, but there is no denying the fact that they would produce significantly less power than the current PU’s.
Djangles LeVaughn (@royal-spark)
6th September 2016, 19:32
A turbo V8 would sound pretty meaty.
Richard (@rick1984)
6th September 2016, 20:57
Not if you still put the energy recovery units on – a lot of the energy that would become noise would still e in the battery instead.
Gabriel (@rethla)
6th September 2016, 20:59
Why would they produce significantly less power when the power is limited in the regulations?
Both the 2.4l and the 1.6l turbo would produce more power if allowed, its not a technical limitation.
anon
6th September 2016, 21:17
@rethla, I think it is implicit in his answer that he would want a return to the previous generation of V8 engines, which would be less powerful than the current generation powertrain.
Gabriel (@rethla)
7th September 2016, 15:21
@anon Yes he talks about the previous generation but i still dont see why you have to go down in power just because you want the sound and looks of the V8 cars.
Dmitry (@)
6th September 2016, 20:09
@skylien i said they LOOK like monsters. Nothing was said about their performance, sound or engine capability.
skylien (@skylien)
7th September 2016, 7:19
@robo
Well I know, and dragster like exhausts would make them LOOK even more monstrous.
Dmitry (@)
7th September 2016, 17:12
Sorry, man!))) Misquoted you, I refered to another comment.
I wouldn’t mind some crazy exhaust and other weird additions too))) at leadt sideskirts! I agree with you)))
Dmitry (@)
7th September 2016, 17:14
@skylien again forgot to mention you))) i have problems with smartphones usage i guess)))
skylien (@skylien)
8th September 2016, 7:41
@robo
ah ok, no problem ;)
MikeeCZ
6th September 2016, 16:40
@main picture: they shoudl make the tyres like that! double rims like on trucks, 2m wide.
They will need another V8 just for the power steering :D
pastaman (@)
6th September 2016, 16:42
It’s still shocking to me how much bigger the tires are! I wonder how long it will take for it to seem normal.
Matheus Carvalho (@mattrc)
6th September 2016, 17:03
The new front tires are wider than the current rear ones?!
ColdFly F1 (@)
7th September 2016, 13:55
“The front tyres will increase from 245mm to 305mm and rears will increase from 325mm to 405mm.”
Optical illusion I’d say – @mattrc
GeeMac (@geemac)
6th September 2016, 17:16
Did anyone else think of this when they saw the lead image?
http://www.moto123.com/ArtImages/113405/ferrari-t6-inline-lauda-tra.jpg
Nick Wyatt (@nickwyatt)
6th September 2016, 19:20
Yes! Immediately. I recently reread Keith’s article on this site about banning six wheel cars etc, then I saw this and I thought “EIGHT?”
Sensord4notbeingafanboi (@peartree)
6th September 2016, 17:42
Now I’m perhaps thinking the tyres have become too big. We’re not even factoring the increase in width. I now current cars are long, so widening should grant a more pleasing aesthetics but I feel it’s a better solution to shorten, make the cars smaller.
Tristan
6th September 2016, 18:26
That looks thoroughly strange with the skinny rear wing.
Matthijs (@matthijs)
6th September 2016, 18:33
Indeed, I wonder why they haven’t fitted a different wing to simulate the increased downforce (for increased load on the tyres).
TheBullWhipper (@thebullwhipper)
6th September 2016, 21:41
The conditions set down by the FIA for testing means they must generate the simulated downforce buy other means than is stated in the new 2017 regulations. This prevents the teams testing Aero parts as the extra downforce required for tyre testing is easily generated by enlarging the defuser, bolting on as much wing as possible and adding some crude ground effect. They are not really testing for top speed, but hard cornering, so how the extra downforce is gained becomes irrelevant.
Hope that helps. 😁
JohnNik (@johnnik)
6th September 2016, 18:52
That Ferrari looks the nuts. If the cars look close to this next year I’ll be happy.
Phil-F1-21
6th September 2016, 19:02
Is anyone wondering how these cars are going to be able to pass each other, especially in tight braking zones. Maybe they needed wider cars with the same tyre width or cars the same width as current ones with the new tyres? The start of next season is going to be very interesting(!) especially with the likes of Max and other rookies around.
TheBullWhipper (@thebullwhipper)
6th September 2016, 21:43
Max will be in his 3rd season of F1 by then so he is hardly a Rookie, but I see your point.
GT Racer (@gt-racer)
6th September 2016, 23:11
The wider cars were done to allow for a wider floor area & wider diffuser to generate more downforce from the floor.
Additionally the wider cars will make the cars more stable overall which it was hoped would allow drivers to throw the cars around more & lean on them harder under braking & through corners. It will also make the cars more predictable & less snappy when they get sideways.
The wider tyres (That will also be geared towards performance rather than degredation) were to go along with that & give the cars more mechanical grip which it is hoped will help counteract some of the downforce loss when running in dirty air.
The rear tyre widths are going back to pretty much what they were prior to 1993 when they were narrowed to reduce cornering speeds. The side effect of that was drivers were able to lean on the rear tyres less as they lost traction more unpredictably & were more prone to snap oversteer which was harder for drivers to catch.
When they made the cars narrower in 1998 (There going back to the pre-98 width of 2m) it had a very similar effect, The cars became harder for drivers to really lean on as they were a lot more prone to snapping sideways if they began to slide, Something not helped by the grooved tyres also introduced that year. All of that again moved the balance more towards downforce with the cars producing a lot less mechanical grip.
For all the talk about the wider wings & all the extra downforce the 2017 cars will have, Not a lot is been mentioned relating to the extra mechanical grip they are going to be producing & how the wider cars/tyres will allow drivers to be more aggressive with them, throw the cars around more & really lean on them not just through the corners but also under braking… All things which may very well be a benefit for the racing & lead to more really daring late braking moves or drivers been able to try things round the outside of corners where you wouldn’t normally see that sort of things happen.
Phil-F1-21
6th September 2016, 23:24
Very interesting. Let’s hope it works out the way you suggest then :-)
Robbie (@robbie)
7th September 2016, 11:56
@gt-racer You have worded well, as usual, how I too have been envisioning the potential of these reg changes. Many people seem fixated on the wider wings and equate that with more aero and therefore worse racing, without much faith in the new tires or the floor work making for an overall benefit. I suppose this lack of faith has come from a cynicism toward F1 and it’s questionable decisions of late and the fact that some inside F1 have frustratingly expressed the same doubts.
lockup (@)
7th September 2016, 18:53
A couple of other factors @gt-racer are that cars will emerge onto the straight faster, have a lower top speed, and slow down less for the following corner. So there’ll be less speed change altogether.
More grip from the rear should mean fewer traction errors to create passing opportunities. More durable tyres will mean less divergence in grip so less passing from that source. More aero wake of course.
How will that stack up against more mechanical grip and more tow?
I suspect nobody knows, but that also means there wasn’t much of a plan. I reckon there’ll be a safety shock about how fast they are, too.
OmarRoncal - Go Seb!!! (@)
6th September 2016, 19:39
If McLaren keeps the black design, it will look like the Tumbler of Batman
swh1386 (@swh1386)
6th September 2016, 20:37
These tyres will make the cars look much more racer. Unfortunately 2017 will be the last year of pretty f1 cars before halo ruins the aesthetics for good
Chris (@tophercheese21)
7th September 2016, 2:53
I’m still waiting to hear what any of the drivers who have tested these tyres have to say about them.
Robbie (@robbie)
7th September 2016, 12:03
But don’t forget the drivers have little knowledge of what tires they’re on and whether they will actually be made and used next year. The tires will likely have several iterations between now and then and they won’t be on a proper 2017 car until January at the earliest.
Moshambles (@moshambles)
7th September 2016, 8:00
I’d like to see what they look like with the 2016 front and 2017 rear tyres on. I think that would look pretty 1991. also with a pre 2009 front wing. https://www.racefans.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/1991_patr_will_esto-e1309878787413.jpg
N
7th September 2016, 10:42
Love the bigger rear tyres, hating the bigger fronts, looks clumsy. The current fronts with the new rears would have looked awesome.
schooner (@schooner)
7th September 2016, 13:02
Not a chance that will happen of course, but I agree %100.
Robbie (@robbie)
7th September 2016, 13:09
The fronts may look ‘clumsy’ but there’s beauty in them presumably being able to handle being in dirty air, unlike the fronts they have now. I also hope that the fatties mean more drag and therefore the need to run less wing in order to maintain respectable straight line speeds.
dam00r (@dam00r)
7th September 2016, 16:14
I still believe that it will be more difficult to overtake because of the width increase