Charles Leclerc, Ferrari, Silverstone, 2019

Ferrari to work overnight on solution to ‘very high tyre wear’

2019 British Grand Prix

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Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto says the team’s pace over a single lap at Silverstone is being limited by “very high wear” on their front tyres.

The combination of a new track surface at Silverstone and increased cornering speeds has put the front-left tyre under particularly high strain. Binotto said it has made it harder for the team to judge the progress it has made with its car in recent races.

“We knew that Silverstone would have been more difficult [for] us compared maybe to the last race, no doubt,” he said. “But we are as well curious to see the progress of the car, the progress we made in the last weeks.

“To judge today seems very difficult and still too early. We had very high wear on the front tyres, the front-left, which is really affecting the single [qualifying] lap.

“If you look we were quite strong in the first and second sectors but weak in the last one with some understeer.”

The team “will be focused on this, this evening and overnight” Binotto added.

Ferrari is not the only team which encountered significant tyre wear. Pirelli motorsport director Mario Isola said they had seen “quite a lot of wear” on tyres from several teams.

“It’s not blistering, it’s wear,” Isola clarified. “When you saw some black lines where the tyres were finished, they were running on the construction, that’s why you see a different colour.”

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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8 comments on “Ferrari to work overnight on solution to ‘very high tyre wear’”

  1. I know it’s a vital item, and I understand that Pirelli are working to requirements set out by the FIA et al, but I’m a bit fed up with tyres seeming to be the dominant factor in a racing weekend. Just like the complaints about the black stuff that the tyres come into contact with, this is non-story; it should not be news. Asphalte and rubber should not be part of the racing equation, let alone the dominant factor of performance for any team.

    1. Just dropping in to say that, tires and the road are by far the most important things in any form of road-based motorsport. The cars are only connected to the road via those four tiny contact patches and all engineering that is performed on the vehicles, aside from powertrain, is done with the goal of optimising those patches. So while I kind of get the spirit of your comment, I do believe that it has a caveat; tires and asphalt are always going to be news when it comes to Formula 1, until the day that they turn into hovercraft.

  2. …they were running on the construction…

    This sounds like some technical jargon. I couldn’t find a reference to what it means. Is it a layer between the tread and the steel belt?

    1. Yes @drycrust that’s how I understand it. The outer layer is the grip compound which is bonded to the inner tire casing. The inner casing would have the reinforcement in it.

    2. In this context, it means that they wore thru the tread depth and onto the next layer be it another layer of rubber or more likely the Kevlar carcass.

  3. Ferrari has understeered for years now. Clear in pre-season testing at turn 3.
    I see they’ve started to copy merceded bargeboards, however they haven’t changed the front wing.

  4. Ferrari clearly implying that last year’s thicker tyres would have been better :-) Love it

  5. Ferrari weren’t the only ones displaying those nasty black lines that “weren’t blistering” in P2 at both the front and rear of the tyres so I don’t think we need to be pointing the finger at them specifically.

    No doubt Pirelli will come up with their usual fix (increase minimum tyre pressure) to counter it rather than admit that they completely messed up this year’s compounds and tread thickness.

    The only positive is that someone might actually go for multiple stops and drive hard instead of “managing” their speed. Teams do after all have the option of stopping to change tyres instead of complaining that they have worn out but sadly no-one seems willing to try it.

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