Well, on the plus side, exploding tires did make for an exciting race but I would not want to be in Paul Hembery's shoes today even if that fault lies solely with Pirelli remans to be seen.
Gary Anderson eloquently explains for BBC.
PROVISIONAL RACE RESULTS
The British Grand Prix
Silverstone, Britain;
52 laps; 306.198km;
Weather: Sunny.
Classified:
Pos Driver Team Time/Gap
1. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1h32m59.456s
2. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault + 0.765s
3. Fernando Alonso Ferrari + 7.124s
4. Lewis Hamilton Mercedes + 7.756s
5. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus-Renault + 11.257s
6. Felipe Massa Ferrari + 14.573s
7. Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes + 16.335s
8. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 16.500s
9. Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes + 17.993s
10. Nico Hulkenberg Sauber-Ferrari + 19.700s
11. Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault + 21.135s
12. Valtteri Bottas Williams-Renault + 25.094s
13. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes + 25.968s
14. Esteban Gutierrez Sauber-Ferrari + 26.285s
15. Charles Pic Caterham-Renault + 31.613s
16. Jules Bianchi Marussia-Cosworth + 36.097s
17. Max Chilton Marussia-Cosworth + 1:07.660s
18. Giedo van der Garde Caterham-Renault + 1:07.759s
19. Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault + 1 laps
Fastest lap: Webber, 1:33.401
Not classified/retirements:
Driver Team On lap
Sergio Perez McLaren-Mercedes 47
Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 42
Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari 36
World Championship standings, round 8:
Drivers: Constructors:
1. Vettel 132 1. Red Bull-Renault 219
2. Alonso 111 2. Mercedes 171
3. Raikkonen 98 3. Ferrari 168
4. Hamilton 89 4. Lotus-Renault 124
5. Webber 87 5. Force India-Mercedes 59
6. Rosberg 82 6. McLaren-Mercedes 37
7. Massa 57 7. Toro Rosso-Ferrari 24
8. Di Resta 36 8. Sauber-Ferrari 6
9. Grosjean 26
10. Button 25
11. Sutil 23
12. Vergne 13
13. Perez 12
14. Ricciardo 11
15. Hulkenberg 6
All timing unofficial
Despite the fact that maybe the kerb cutted the tyres, Pirelli showed up their new tyres. Many drivers quoted that it's not Silvertone's circuit fault, but Pirelli's fault. I think what happened today is shameful in today's races.
ReplyDeleteKerbs with those kinds of back edges exist at a lot of tracks around the world. Laguna Seca, Barcelona, Circuit de la Sarthe for example. Pirelli being unable to cope with that just seems wrong. Even if they do get a cut in the tire, it shouldn't blow out explosively like that. I mean last year, they'd go floppy then slowly disintegrate. Lets go back to that.
ReplyDeleteNot all of it is Pirelli's fault; how do you expect Pirelli to make tires that can last AND put on a good show if you give them a car from 2010 to test? Their test car is 3 years old - that's a lifetime for F1 cars in terms of development and downforce...the teams need to stop being so selfish and start looking out for the greater good of the sport and start agreeing on some things like allowing in-season testing with current cars so that Pirelli can make their tires safer. Selfish teams...
ReplyDeleteI was laughing at Newey's proclamations that teams refused to do the right thing and let Pirelli bring back the old tire "because they were afraid of losing performance" when in fact it was Red Bull who wanted the old tires because they HAD lost performance and cannot run as much downforce with the new ones. Hilarious.
ReplyDeleteNot being a tire tech, the way I picture it , the steel belt must produce more heat while moved around in the carcass which is good for cars that had trouble with temps. but the tire still has to have a certain spring to it and that's why the softer shoulders. I wonder how much of a factor are aggressive alignments the teams might put on the cars?
ReplyDeleteI just made this... :) http://axisofoversteer.com/blog/pictures/VettelOops.gifaxisofoversteer.com
ReplyDeletelook at it from the point of view of the drivers:
ReplyDeletethey have seen all supportraces there at silverstone, the same weekend presumably without tire fail. so they concluded it is the tire.
If it was normal for shards of glass to occur on track and you manufactured a race tire that failed explosively when it encountered glass. Yes. I would say you made a shitty product.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Anderson ... the US commentators were going on and on about how this was Pirelli's fault, but it was clear in the Xeroxed handout from Pirelli shown on the TV coverage that read, 'don't run over the kerbs. +2 PSi on pressure."
ReplyDeleteTo me, Pirelli was playing it safe by saying up the pressure, but the salient point was: don't run over the kerbs.
If the gravel was replaced by shards of glass, would people still be bitching about how bad the Pirellis were?