On the weekend of the F1’s 70th anniversary, tires (not cars, teams, or drivers) are making headline news.
There are three kinds of tires in a Formula 1 race: hard tires (lasts longer but is slower than the rest) medium tires and, finally, the soft tires, which are excellent for qualifying and the end of a race. Soft tires are usually put on a car to finish and they will make it quicker, too. But do they?
That was not the case last weekend at the British Grand Prix at Silverstone. Dani Kvyat hit the wall at Maggots after sustaining a puncture, Kimi Raikkonen did the same and ripped off his left front wing before the race was over, and Valtteri Bottas, Carlos Sainz Jr., and Lewis Hamilton all encountered punctures. Hamilton managed to make it across the finish line five seconds ahead of Max Verstappen, who had soft tires on to see if he could record the fastest lap.
This weekend Formula 1 celebrates its 70th anniversary and tires are making headline news. Is there something more that Pirelli, the leading tire manufacturer in the sport, can do? F1’s tire czar, Mario Isola, is looking in a different direction–believing that how the race played out last weekend could be the reason why some tires failed.
Mario Isola: We will investigate what happened in the last few laps. It’s a bit early now to give you any conclusion. It could be high wear because, for sure, tires with 38 laps or more on this circuit are quite worn. But I am not saying that wear is the cause of the issue. It can be debris because we had the pieces of the front wing of Kimi that were on track, and there was also some other debris.
To spice up tire excitement this weekend, Pirelli will introduce and even softer range of tires. Some believe that could lead to even more disastrous results. But Isola is taking a wait-and-see attitude. “It doesn’t matter if we go with the same compounds we use today or softer compounds,” he said, “Each tire has a maximum number of laps. It depends on each car and each car is different.”
Red Bull manager Christian Horner has a different viewpoint. His take is that tires do make a difference, and, with that, he’s going to have his team take a conservative approach this weekend.
