Lewis Hamilton suggested this after the Miami Grand Prix last month I have never seen F1 tires with such a “small” working window. Like the one they have now.
“Honestly, that’s probably the most frustrating thing,” the seven-time world champion said. “You look back and remember when we had a much wider window to work with. Then you could improve your balance and get good grip throughout the lap.”
but Pirelli He believes the importance of tire studs lies not in their different characteristics, but because Formula 1 is now so close that every detail is of greater importance.
In the past, when there were several tenths of a second in lap time between cars, getting in and out of the tire window wasn’t really that critical.
“Every tire has a peak at some point and the operating window is always just a definition. We take a certain percentage of loss of grip to define the window. I think even in the past it was the same thing. But perhaps it was less important because it was a bit of a tire,” said Pirelli’s chief Formula 1 engineer. “The level of detail we have at the moment is very important.” Simone Pera.
“That’s why everything is now taken into account and it’s important. In the past, 15 or 20 years ago, cars or drivers were divided by half a second or seven-tenths of a second, so it wasn’t so important. But the fight is now,” he added. Different, and even a tenth of a second makes a big difference.”
Photo: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport the pictures
Berra also believes that the situation Current tire sales also vary from car to car, It can also be different between vehicles.
“We know very well that C4 in particular, and in some cases obviously with high temperatures C5, can have a short maximum performance.”
“Some teams are less able than others to extract the maximum. Partly because of the tyres, yes, it is, but also partly because of the car and the suspension and how the car is, and exploiting the performance of the compound. So they are both factors,” he said.
What is the maximum grip of an F1 tire?
Pirelli recently clarified that it defines the tire’s scope of operation as Temperature zone that is within 3% of the maximum possible grip. With the margins currently tight in Formula One, it is clear that the closer the drivers are to the top, the better.
As shown Mario IsolaPirelli’s boss in Formula 1: “If we look at the graph, the tire’s grip is in vertical coordinates and the temperature is in horizontal coordinates. When it’s cold, any compound developed for motorsport has little grip. On the other hand, grip increases With high temperature.
“There is a curve that rises until it reaches a peak, and then there will be a significant decrease in control due to overconsumption.”
Knowing where peak cohesion is reached allows teams to understand the scope of the framework..
“Once peak grip is reached, at the highest point of the curve, the graph shows us a 3% area that we define as the ‘working range.’ Then there is a curve between two points that we try to make flatter and higher up all of them, as wide as possible.
“Our goal is to give drivers a tire with a wider high point, to ensure a larger operating window,” Isola concluded.
Photo by: Pirelli
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