Tyre Specs

[gttouring]

F1 in all its techno marvel has a flaw in my opinion concerning Tyre specs and such.
The regs say the engine must be made like this, and has room for design and sizes and revs of the components, the chassis as well, physical dimensions, material limitations and what have you. this is what each team with their selected driver bring to the battle.
Now tyres have a physical size limit but not a limit or regs concerning the materials- the tyres follow some regs but it seems too wide open, especially if one tyre BS, is giving up 2 or more seconds a lap. Good for michellin really says naught of any manufacturer.
The tyres aren't contained within the same rigid rule structure as the compound type cannot be revealed to anyone,as it is proprietry and verylikely secret eh?
Z-pinning, carbon fiber, aramid and what have you are common chassis stuffs, but what other than rubber (sulfur...blah blah) is in a race tyre? the free reign of development isn't healthy or really i feel in the spirit of what F1 fights over, a manufacturer and Driver Championship, there is not a tyre championship is there?
Remember BS tyres that became 'slicks' after a longs stint and TGF times got better and bettre?
well FIA stopped those right away and said if it starts with grooves it ends with grooves. and well the other teams got closer after that one. So this tyre crappo has made for an exciting champion ship, as i heard on Windtunnel, a world champ team and 5 time driver does not fall in one year to being lapped, in a race without suffering some failure...

[GTV27]

nup, can't agree with that - F1 should be about technical development. Less rules not more.

[alfasud]

I remember at the start of the season when Minardi were testing on Avon slicks, a few of us were saying that there should be a slick control tyre - it would save money, get rid of a lot of arguments about grooves and bring the competition back to cars and drivers. So far, I haven't seen anything to change that opinion.

[Yes, I'm aware the tyre is part of the car, but to most people, not one of the most interesting parts]

[Adam43]

However if tyre manufacture is pushed to the limits you see races where relative tyre performance may change for one competitor to another. This creates situations where we may get good racing and overtaking. Hockenheim was perhaps the most recent example.

A tyre can ruin a championship, but then you could say that last year was ruined by the general superiority of the Ferrari. However it can also make a championship. It has allowed other teams and drivers to get in on the action.

[neilap]

Last years championship was also ruined by tires. Ferrari had the majority of input on tire design. This year more teams tried to build their cars around the way Ferrari designs their cars in order for the tires to work better. Even GW alluded to that when the 005 was being introduced. A tire war only detracts from what the real racing is about; good cars and drivers.

[climb]

IMO the more rules you have, the larger romm you have to cheat.
For instance, had the teams still been allowed to run slick tires and no measure limit, each one would be free to optimize and find most effective solutions, with no risk of bans/disqualifications.

[gttouring]

right, with you all in different degrees,
but you forgot the one point,
the rules in F1 regarding materials in engine use(i.e. Magnesium, aluminium, berylium, molybdenum etc.) is restricted to where and how much and if at all.
the tyre have no regs for this, so it distracts from the actual car development, and driver and motor.
after all a tyre should allow for a car to do pretty much the same thing on a similar set up, not lose 4 secs a lap, and allow for half the field to be lapped.
a spec slick would work IMO as well, of course it does allow for pummelling of the competition, so perhaps tyre formula should exist,
or look at MotoGp-it is all pirelli next year, why because a tyre is not part of the manufacturers fighting over the championship, and not the riders either.
we could allow for every team to run their 'home' tyre if that would make everyone hapy, this way it is a Manufacturer built tyre- part of the car.
Ferrarri on Pirrelli
Honda on BS
Toyota on Nitto
jaguar on Avon
williams on BF goodrich
Mercedes on Continentals
(ford teams other than Jag) on Goodyear
Renault on michellins
and so on
if hyundai would go F1 they would use Hankook

[gttouring]

Jordan would be best on Dunlops not Goodyear, sorry