Tired as in the black Italian made rubber donuts which seemed to be be falling apart at an alarming rate in the Malaysian heat. 15 laps on the harder compound is the prediction for Sunday if the weather is dry, which at Sepang is always a possibility (40% chance of rain predicted).
Could potentially be a complicated week end for Pirelli's Paul Hembery who's saying everything is unfolding as planned. But is it a good plan, this of having a good company make bad tires forcing drivers to become resource managers?
The only thing we can say is that, whatever it is, at least it's the same for everyone, just another technical challenge to deal with.
But this being F1, there are reports of muttering in the paddock about Lotus' unfair advantage given by Pirelli using a 2010 Renault R30 as its development car.
FP2 Results:
Pos Driver Team Time Gap Laps
1. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus-Renault 1m36.569 28
2. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1m36.588s + 0.019s 27
3. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1m36.661s + 0.092s 33
4. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m36.985s + 0.416s 23
5. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1m37.026s + 0.457s 29
6. Romain Grosjean Lotus Renault 1m37.206s + 0.637s 26
7. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m37.448s + 0.879s 32
8. Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1m37.571s + 1.002s 30
9. Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1m37.574s + 1.005s 32
10. Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes 1m37.788s + 1.219s 10
11. Sergio Perez McLaren-Mercedes 1m37.838s + 1.269s 21
12. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1m37.865s + 1.296s 29
13. Nico Hulkenberg Sauber-Ferrari 1m38.068s + 1.499s 31
14. Esteban Gutierrez Sauber-Ferrari 1m38.645s + 2.076s 23
15. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m38.738s + 2.169s 31
16. Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault 1m38.801s + 2.232s 27
17. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m38.904s + 2.335s 31
18. Jules Bianchi Marussia-Cosworth 1m39.508s + 2.939s 30
19. Valtteri Bottas Williams-Renault 1m39.660s + 3.091s 28
20. Charles Pic Caterham-Renault 1m40.757s + 4.188s 29
21. Giedo van der Garde Caterham-Renault 1m40.768s + 4.199s 32
22. Max Chilton Marussia-Cosworth 1m41.438s + 4.869s 23
These are the 'best' drivers in the world driving the 'most technically advanced' racing cars in the world. The more unpredictable the tyres the more the test of man and machine, isn't that what it's all about anyway?
ReplyDeleteI agree, as long as everyone has the same issue to deal with it's fine. I think the sweet spot for Pirelli would be to make two opposing strategies feasible, like in Australia. I think 3 plus stops might be a bit much.
DeleteI don't recall - were the 2012 Pirellis developed with the Toyota TF110 or the Renault R30?
ReplyDeleteIf the R30 was used for the 2012 tires, then anyone grumbling this weekend about some supposed tire advantage has a bitter pill to swallow.
I doubt testing on an R30 is any advantage at all. The honest truth is the core engineers at Lotus are good. I don't know how else to sum it up. The other teams are going to have to move their focus in order to catch up.
ReplyDeleteTo me stating that the R30 testing gives a advantage to Lotus is the same as not recognizing Kimi's talents.
ReplyDeleteRoman with the older spec exhaust is not doing so well...