02/04/2011
FEATURE BY MAT COCH
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Winter testing was not a kind period to Pirelli. The subject of constant criticism over the performance of the new-for-2011 tyres many, including myself, feared the worst come Melbourne.
Marbles and, as I labelled them, 'supermarbles' littered the Valencia, Jerez and Barcelona tracks, while degradation could best be described as extreme. Drivers were worried, as were the teams, that come the Australian Grand Prix the tyres would simply not go the distance.
Albert Park is not one of the hardest circuits on tyres though it's somewhat unique parkland/street circuit layout does make it a challenging debut for anyone, be they drivers, teams or suppliers. Of course it was never meant to be that way. Cancelled at the last minutes due to political unrest Bahrain was set to host the opening race of the year, while the week before the Sakhir circuit was meant to be the venue for the final pre-season test. The cancellation of both saw the final test moved to Barcelona, and much cooler conditions, while the season start was put on hiatus for two weeks. As a result Pirelli wasn't able to test in warmer conditions, the tyres struggling with the cool Barcelona winter once more. Had the Bahrain test gone ahead it seems likely the criticisms Pirelli had endured would have come to a stop. Instead track officials in Spain sent trucks out twice daily to sweep the circuit clean.
Confidence in the tyres heading to Australia was therefore low. Forecasts were suggesting four stops or more to replace the tattered carcasses at each corner of the car, with tyres thought to last about ten laps at best. Chunks of rubber were expected to litter the circuit. They would damage cars and fly into the crowd while anyone brave enough to move off line and attempt to pass would sail by the apex and skate off the circuit.
During First Practice on Friday I watched like a hawk, looking for signs of degradation and the disarray we'd seen in testing. Aside from an especially second hand looking set that was taken off Sebastian Vettel's car, performance raised no cause for concern. Some post-session snooping in the paddock gave me no reason for alarm, though it did force me to furrow my brow over just what was going on. It was only in second practice when teams began using the softer compound Pirelli that we truly began to see marbles, though even then to a far lesser extent than we'd seen over the winter. Come race day teams had realised that tyre degradation was far less than expected, promoting most teams to employ a two stop strategy. Some elected for three however there was little to choose between them judging by the results, and ultimately it came down to how vigorously the driver stamped on the loud pedal. Sergio Perez demonstrated that an especially light touch could harvest return with a one-stop strategy.
It prompted many to offer their apologies to Pirelli for their harsh words in the build up to the season opener. Sebastian Vettel, who won the race with relative ease, had been critical of the rubber ahead of the event. Speaking after claiming victory he was quick to acknowledge the Italian firm. It was no doubt music to Pirelli's ears, vindication for an aggressive approach which could have come horrendously unstuck. Having endured the harsh criticism of some sections of the media, this writer, having been especially scathing at times, admits that Pirelli ultimately played a key part in an entertaining race. There were no nasty surprises and ultimately the company's first Formula One race in two decades went off without a hitch. It even won on its debut.
"We were always confident of our own test results to be honest," said Paul Hembery, in an exclusive interview after the race. Clearly delighted with the result, he lacked the 'I told you so' attitude one could have so easily adopted given the circumstances. Instead the Pirelli Motorsport Director seemed genuinely delighted by the event, and as happy as Sebastian Vettel.
That didn't stop him giving the teams back a little of what Pirelli had endured during the off season. "The teams really exaggerate," he suggested, with just a hint of frustration creeping in to his otherwise level demeanour. "It's rather strange really because they know even in the past when they tested in those conditions they had problems. It was a bit bizarre to hear comments when they have previous experience in those conditions of exactly the same result."
Hembery isn't incorrect, but his comment failed to acknowledge the difference between the problems the two suppliers suffered. When running on Bridgestone tyres teams hadn't experienced the chunking the Pirelli tyres demonstrated in testing. Longevity was a feature of the 2010 Bridgestone rubber, which allowed drivers to complete almost an entire race distance on a single set, changing tyres only to comply with the regulations and often at the last moment. By contrast the 2011 spec Pirelli's seemed to fall apart the moment they were bolted on to the car during testing.
The exception for Bridgestone was Canada where degradation was excessive and became a critical factor in the Grand Prix. As drivers scrambled for grip fans enjoyed one of the most enjoyable Formula One races in recent memory. That event was the blueprint for Pirelli's return to Formula One. "We were asked to recreate Canada," Hembery told me during a meet and greet event on the Thursday evening ahead of the Australian Grand Prix. It was a throw away line which I treated with scepticism at the time. In retrospect the Australian Grand Prix weekend wasn't quite Canada but it wasn't Italy 2010 either, where Red Bull ran Sebastian Vettel on a single set of tyres before stopping the German on the last lap or so. Last weekend was somewhere in between though leaning more towards the Canadian side of the equation. It was a deliberate decision, one encouraged by the Formula One Teams Association and Bernie Ecclestone, who saw tyre wear as a relatively simple way to spice up the racing 'product.'
Initially Pirelli wasn't even in the picture when it came to the tyre supply for 2011. In a rare press conference held over the Australian Grand Prix weekend race director Charlie Whiting revealed that the FIA was in fact talking to another supplier. "The FIA weren't involved in the choice of tyre supplier," he revealed during the relatively candid discussion.
"We entered into discussion with another tyre supplier, a French one," he continued. "At that time we didn't have a tyre supplier at all, Bridgestone were pulling out, and they were the only ones that expressed any interest.
"Some teams came along with a proposal from Pirelli and ultimately all the teams chose the Pirelli option. What they discussed with Pirelli I don't know. All we did was enter in to a contract with Pirelli to make sure that they provided the same tyres, equal tyres, in complete fairness to all competitors. That's our job. They had the two offers on the table that was the one they unanimously went for."
The press conference gave an interesting insight into the process, the FIA claiming to have done nothing but sign the final deal while teams discussed the finer details, such as tyres that would last forty percent race distance.
Forty percent seemed a distant dream in testing however, Hembery claims the degradation, which at times saw strips torn from tyres, was exactly what they'd expected. According to Hembery the 2011 Pirelli's are designed to work in a specific temperature range, the conditions seen during pre-season were simply too cool.
"Before midday it barely got over ten degrees," he recalled of the final Barcelona test. "We were getting up in the morning and the windows on the car were frosted which means the ground is actually almost frozen underneath.
"The tyre becomes fragile with cold weather because of some of the ingredients you use in the tyre to create grip. They're ingredients that need a certain level of temperature to activate. They weren't being activated, so you get a fragility in the compound so it tears.
"Even if you get a superficial temperature of maybe twenty five degrees, which we had I think for two hours one afternoon, the reality is the bulk temperature of the surface is actually very cold."
Famed for having four seasons in one day the temperature in Melbourne was higher. On Friday and Saturday temperatures nudged closer towards twenty degrees Celsius despite the grey and overcast conditions, meaning degradation during practice was noticeably less than that seen during testing. Come Sunday the weather improved further still, with a bright sun doing its best to raise temperatures to the mid twenties. The warmer conditions allowed the ingredients in the tyres to react, a situation the team at Pirelli fully expected to happen.
Yet despite Pirelli's confidence in the product new regulations were hastily introduced to allow drivers another set of rubber on Friday. According to Hembery this was more to satisfy the concerns of the teams themselves. "We had one set extra, and that was because we felt it was fair for the teams to have one set to do set up work because we knew our own data was unrepresentative." It's not an option that will be available every race weekend, only when it's required; a subjective regulation to be implemented if and when deemed fit.
In essence it meant tyre testing during winter was a pointless exercise, since temperature made data misrepresentative. The cold winter conditions were not expected during the season; hence tyres were developed for a warmer European summer. While a relief for the teams it does highlight the dependency the Pirelli tyres have on conditions which are outside of its control.
"It's almost impossible to make a compound that would go from five degrees centigrade through to fifty," admits Hembery. "That's true of road car technology; you have winter tyres for winter countries. So from that point of view we knew that we had to have higher working temperature range compounds."
"It's been eight months of very hard work," Hembery recalled of the time spent running a 2009 spec Toyota around deserted circuits, Pedro de la Rosa and Nick Heidfeld heavily involved with initial development. "To be here racing with the best teams in the world in eight months is an extraordinary achievement.
"A lot of team principals have come to us and given us great compliments because from the outside people don't understand what goes on to arrive at that. It's not their fault, because it's not something they need know about, but the people who do know about it recognise very, very well that it was quite an extraordinary achievement."
Learning lessons for 2012 will take part during the season. While teams could be granted another set of race-spec rubber at some races, to be used in practice, there is another regulation allowing Pirelli to test tyres. With testing banned, teams, and in turn Pirelli, are looking at alternatives in order to carry out vital development.
"One of the issues we've had as a tyre maker is when we're developing, we're working on 2012, is how on earth do we test the tyres?" says Hembery. "We don't want to just turn up again next January go to the limit when we haven't tested.
"What we've agreed is to use, if we require it, Friday's free practice sessions when we can bring two sets of the new development tyres for testing. We can use those during that free practice period which for us is fantastic because it gives us real time data on a track we're going to race at."
In theory it should mean no reoccurrence of the scenes witnessed during the winter, though at the same time it also signifies an unprecedented step from the teams and governing body. Previously all tyre testing had been done outside of race weekends, with the only tyres used at a championship event counting towards the quota each team is given. It should provide Pirelli more accurate data, especially at extremes such as Canada (degradation) and Malaysia (heat).
Sepang is set to be a truer test of the new rubber, though there will be no development tyres for the teams to try out next weekend. While Melbourne was warmer than the temperatures seen during testing they're nothing when compared with the heat expected in Malaysia, where the weather is frequently sweltering and often wet. It will be the first time the tyres experience such temperatures.
Just how the tyres will react is unknown, even to Pirelli, who are not expecting a repeat of Sergio Perez's one-stop strategy in Australia. While Hembery claims the tyres work better in warmer conditions he also believes we will see more stops as degradation increases, an interesting paradox. With an anticipated track temperature of fifty degrees Celsius the heat should be translated into a better reaction within the tyre, ultimately meaning less marbles, though the longevity of the tyres is expected to suffer as a result.
"It's an extreme heat location, (an) aggressive track, one of the most aggressive on the calendar," says Hembery. "I don't think anyone will be doing a one stop, I think that will be a three/four stop (race)."
With just one race of the season gone it's difficult to draw accurate conclusions, though it would be fair to suggest the concerns raised in pre-season testing have been answered to some extent. However there is still a long season ahead, and a number of challenges the Italian firm has yet to face; we've yet to see wet weather, though Hembery is confident the tyres are more than suitable, and we've yet to reach a tyre shredding circuit like Montreal. To date the Italian firm has proved its critics wrong. It must continue to do so when the going gets truly tough.
To check out previous features from Mat, click here