27/10/2019
NEWS STORY
During the Japanese Grand Prix, Formula One Management proudly showed off its latest graphic, brought to us, as the broadcasters repeatedly told us, by Amazon Web Services (AWS).
As fans wondered whether Lewis Hamilton would go the distance or follow the example of his teammate and switch to a two-stop strategy, the new graphic 'revealed' how much performance was left in each tyre. And as the Briton sought to hunt down his teammate fans were treated to a video-game style image that showed each tyre's performance dropping off as a percentage.
The only trouble is, none of the data came from Pirelli, which, one would have thought, would be the best informed source on the subject.
"That data is not coming from us," Mario Isola told reporters in Mexico. "I think it's very difficult to predict the level of wear on any car.
"We make an estimation based on an average," he continued. "But then you have the data that is related to each single car, and they are different.
"This is something that the teams would also like to know," he admitted. "If you have a reliable prediction of the wear as a team, you have a big advantage. As you can understand, this is information that is really difficult to get."
The Pirelli 'head of car racing and F1, said that various other factors also had to be taken into consideration.
"There's driving style, the car, the level of management during the race, the conditions that you have on Friday compared to Sunday... The data is estimated on Friday, on Sunday, if you have ten degrees more or ten degrees less, it could be different. If you are in free air, or you are in traffic, it is different.
"How much you are managing the pace, and how much you are managing the pace for the fuel. There are too many parameters you should consider in this calculation."
Check out our Sunday gallery from Mexico City, here.