MOTORSPORT: Rapid change in F1 tyres
Safety concerns have dictated a switch in the rubber to be fitted to cars in this Sunday's German Grand Prix.F1's monopoly tyre supplier Pirelli wanted to run these tyres at last month's Canadian GP but could not get the then necessary unanimous agreement from teams.
Ferrari, Lotus and Force India had feared that these tyres would advantage world champion team Red Bull and the improving Mercedes, already a ‘black sheep’ for having done a dubious three-day test with Pirelli in Barcelona for which it has since been reprimanded.
Now the teams are agreed that changes are necessary on safety grounds, after several cars had left rear tyres explode at 200kmh or more at Silverstone last Sunday, including Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton while leading.
For the Hungarian GP at the end of this month Pirelli will supply tyres using last year's structure but this year's compounds.
Talk of a driver boycott of this Sunday's race at Nurburgring in Germany was just that. Hamilton was perhaps the most outspoken driver after the events of Silverstone, but curiously he mentioned that the famous Barcelona test several weeks ago had been about improving this year's tyres -- yet Mercedes and Pirelli had claimed throughout the controversy it was overwhelmingly to test rubber for next year.
More pertinently, Pirelli said this week that teams this season had been using tyres intended to be right rears as left rears, running them at temperatures lower than it had recommended and using extreme cambers.
The exceptionally high-speed nature of Silverstone may have created particular difficulties, but ex-F1 driver Derek Warwick (now president of the British Racing Drivers Club which operates Silverstone) rejected suggestions that the track's kerbs were a problem.
Warwick accused F1 commercial supremo Bernie Ecclestone, world governing body of motorsport the Federation Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) and Pirelli of "bringing the sport into disrepute".
Pirelli motorsport chief Paul Hembery has insisted that the company's tyres this year have been "correct and completely safe".
An F1 test scheduled for mid-July and intended as an opportunity to trial potential GP drivers now has been expanded to allow regular race drivers to participate and assess tyres.
There also is talk of a major tyre test after the season-ending Brazilian GP. An FIA announcement late last weekend already has also signalled an early start to pre-season testing next year and the reintroduction of some track days during the year in light of the major changes in the regulations coming next year.
The FIA also has assumed the power to decree changes in tyres rather than needing the unanimous agreement of F1 teams.
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