Force India's Plan to Spice Up Formula One

[Chris]

Force India's proposal to Pirelli could change Formula One for the better.

In its present state, Formula One tyre supplier Pirelli makes an educated decision as to which tyres to bring to each Grand Prix based on track characteristics such as average cornering speed, asphalt abrasiveness, predicted track temperature and hundreds of other factors, I'm sure. However, of the four dry compounds in the Pirelli P-Zero range, the Italian tyre manufacturer only selects two compounds for each Grand Prix that all teams must use.

Force India's chief operating officer, Otmar Szafnauer, has proposed that the Formula One weekend would be far more interesting if teams were individually allowed to secretly elect the two tyre compounds to use four weeks in advance of each Grand Prix. Then on the Thursday before each race, the tyre choices for each team become known to their competitors and the general public, and immediately there is a massive talking point for the weekend.

Now, many die-hard Formula One fans are saying that tyres are already too dominant of a factor in the racing these day, and they might be right, but I believe such a change to the sporting regulations would be a good one, and could make for some very interesting racing. Not only would it make for some very intriguing race strategies on a Sunday, but it could also result in some highly mixed up grids on a Saturday. However, there's also the added complication of having to explain all of this to the fans who are new to Formula One, and so as Formula One attempts to reach out to a broader audience, this may not be the best move.

Whilst it's simple enough to comprehend for someone who has been following the sport for some time, the same may not be applicable for someone who doesn't know that Formula One cars have eight forward gears. TV stations would need to invest time and money into creating new on-screen graphics to inform the viewers of which tyres each team had available to them, and it could be another fiddly talking point that commentators get wrong.

But just imagine for a moment: It's lap 40 of the 2015 Italian Grand Prix. Lewis Hamilton leads the race on worn hard tyres. Sebastian Vettel has just pitted for Super-Softs and the gap to the leader is 25 seconds. The pace advantage could be an immense game changer. Would Lewis win? Or would Sebastian's Super-Softs provide such speed that he'd be able to reel him in and take the win in front of the adoring Tifosi? Or further down the field could it mean McLaren get their first points of the season?

Of course the purists may scream that it's yet another artificial nail in Formula One's artificial coffin, but is it really? The teams would be making strategic decisions within the rules to gain performance over their competitors, and this has always been the case in Formula One. Risks are taken, failure is likely, but they do it all for the glory of standing on the top step of the podium.

 

[sbblakey777]

Won't most of the teams pick the same compounds because they have data from Pirelli telling them how good those compounds are at each particular track?

 

[Fernando Deutsch]

I think is a great idea. Some cars have a better performance on some compounds than others, and this wide open the strategy options choosen by different teams. If the rule is kept to force teams to use two different compounds, some teams would run on a one stop strategy with hard, medium compounds, while other can choose a more aggressive plan running softer options.

 

[sbblakey777]

...some teams would run on a one stop strategy with hard, medium compounds, while other can choose a more aggressive plan running softer options.

But then that increases costs for Pirelli, no? Some teams need to make 3-4 stops a race instead of 1-2 because they're running a more agressive tyre strategy.

 

[Chris]

But then that increases costs for Pirelli, no? Some teams need to make 3-4 stops a race instead of 1-2 because they're running a more agressive tyre strategy.

No, because Pirelli are still bringing the same number of tyres to each race.

 

[Matheus Machado]

Totally approve that measure, it would bring amazing action to F1, and would also bring some fight to Mercedes with those efficient teams out there!

 

[sbblakey777]

No, because Pirelli are still bringing the same number of tyres to each race.

I get it now. But wouldn't teams complain for equality if they get tyres that just don't work AT ALL during the race weekend? What if something like the 2005 USGP happens again? Would the teams be considered sh*t out of luck then?

 

[Bul Knaters]

Sounds like iGP Manager....it might make qualifying more interesting if teams with the softer tires go about trying to save them for the race.

 

[Chris]

I get it now. But wouldn't teams complain for equality if they get tyres that just don't work AT ALL during the race weekend? What if something like the 2005 USGP happens again? Would the teams be considered sh*t out of luck then?

I don't think so. I mean, the teams would have no one to blame but themselves as its their decision on the tyres.

 

[Eric Rowland]

I don't think so. I mean, the teams would have no one to blame but themselves as its their decision on the tyres.

That's exactly why the teams would never agree to such a proposal.

 

[Chris]

It was a team that proposed the idea in the first place.

 

[AnklaX]

While this is an interesting idea, I think F1 needs more substantial changes than somewhat gimmicky ones like this, titanium skid plates, and DRS.

 

[Alberto Casado]

Everybody would flock towards the minimum hardness that holds for 12-15 laps and the next harder compound (to make a 2 stopper possible).

On some cases you would see somebody going for a step softer than normal and 3 stops, or a step harder than normal and 1 stop. But those would likely be the second-tier teams trying "something else". Years and years have shown us that the leading teams prefer to mirror and cover a seemingly "not so good" pit strategy than to risk going for a theoretically better one, and this would not be any different. And with a 4 week lead I don't see many taking those risks (now the innovative strategies are taken because of penalties, race circumstance, suspended/broken Q sessions...

To sum up, this idea would only work while teams lack information to decide on the tyre, once they get a rough idea, hardly change anything.

 

[Marcel Offermans]

Unless every team gets an equal amount of tires of each type to use for the whole season and they have to use all the compounds. In those cases, no team will be able to dominate all races, they will have to pick a few and try to scrape some points in the ones where they really have shitty tires.

I'm not convinced either that this is what F1 needs, but I do think this would bring more diversity on the podium.

 

[Antony21]

that's my favorite
mod edit - Broken image link removed

 

[RoMaN14]

They would not choose the same. Some teams have built their car on completely different ideal conditions, temps, etc.

So RB and Ferrari will go for softer/warmer for example.

 

[Darren Bentley]

a lot of teams would surely use going by how strong the tyres are super-soft then medium and use Super-soft as a qualifying tyre (at tracks where it would normally be Soft and medium) and soft then hard (at tracks where it would commonly be Med/Hard) and it'd be like 2013 where you would run the softer tyre in qualifying then the harder tyre throughout most of the race, then places like monaco, singapore, canada use super soft and soft

 

[Martin Larsen]

I don't think this wil matter to much... I guess most of the teams would choose the same tyres since they have the same data about the track, tyres etc. Maybe in some races a smaler team would gamble on some other tyres but I think the big teams like Ferrari, Red Bull, Mercedes etc would normally chose the same tyres...

 

[Chris Jenkins]

I think it could work, but there would have to be restrictions at certain tracks.
e.g. No Supersofts at Barcelona (and other circuits where the track is very abrasive) and no Hards at Monaco/Singapore where you need as much grip as possible to avoid barriers.

 

[DCCanada]

Hi! how about only 2 kinds of tires? for dry or wet conditions that's all! No choice of compound. Would mean cost effective and the ability to better apreciate driver under all of those conditions.