Pirelli reduce camber limit for Monza

F1 Fanatic round-up

Posted on

| Written by

In the round-up: Pirelli reduce their recommended camber limit for Monza after the blistering seen at Spa.

Links

Top F1 links from the past 24 hours:

F1 teams get reduced camber limit (Autosport)

“At Spa, teams were asked not go beyond a 4-degree limit – but Red Bull Racing was understood to have pushed the limit to as far as 4.3 degrees. It was this that contributed to the tyres overheating on the straights – producing the blisters that proved so worrying ahead of the race.”

Fixed weight distribution to stay until 2013 (Manipe F1)

Sam Michael: “The weight distribution is fixed in the regulations between 45.5 and 46.5% of mass on the front axle. That regulation has been voted through for 2012 and now, just recently, again for 2013.”

Formula One sets itself up for another failure in U.S. (The Globe and Mail)

“A simple scan of the NASCAR Sprint Cup schedule for the past decade by F1’s bright lights would have ensured they avoided this ridiculous conflict. Since 1999, every Cup calendar has wrapped up on the third Sunday in November.”

James Allison on the Italian GP (Renault)

“We looked much more on the pace in Spa than in the previous four Grands Prix. Neither driver had an unimpeded race, but the underlying pace of the car was capable of earning P5-P6 given a freer run to the flag.”

Di Resta relishing Monza debut with Italian Grand Prix set to be a family affair (Daily Mail)

“You obviously treat every race with the same importance, but some races definitely feel a bit more special if you have an emotional connection. That’s the case with Italy because I’ve got family living there and some Italian blood in me.”

Jarno Trulli – new man or past master? (F1)

“This weekend will see Jarno Trulli start his home race for the 15th time in his Formula One career. Trulli insists it won’t be his last, but with Lotus yet to make an announcement on their 2012 driver line-up that hasn’t stopped the media bombarding him with questions about his future.”

When motor racing really was a matter of life and death (The Guardian)

“Single deaths – such as that of young Henry Surtees at Brands Hatch a couple of years ago – happen on the track from time to time. It is impossible to imagine, however, that a race held in 2011 could continue after the deaths of 15 spectators.”

Follow F1 news as it breaks using the F1 Fanatic live Twitter app.

Comment of the day

Now here’s an F1 Fanatic – Ginger took his wife to an F1 race on their honeymoon

I went to Monza in 2004 when I was on my honeymoon. The weather wasn’t great, the wife wasn’t impressed and the food wasn’t up to much.

It goes without saying that this didn’t matter to me, I loved it. What was odd was that we were trying to locate tickets when we were staying in Milan. It was like a treasure hunt! I have no idea but we had to trek to some small office up some stairs in a remote corner of Milan. I couldn’t believe that they weren’t selling them in the centre of town, more people would have been there.

Getting there and back was easy on the train, crowded but very straightforward.

If I went again I would spend more on the ticket and get a seat as I have done when in Silverstone.
Ginger

From the forum

Olliekart asks for suggestions of modern tracks that are dangerous or un-raceable.

Happy birthday!

Happy birthday to Stephen!

On this day in F1

Nelson Piquet led a one-two for Williams in the Italian Grand Prix at Monza on this day in 1986.

He and Nigel Mansell were joined on the podium by Ferrari’s Stefan Johansson.

But Alain Prost was unhappy at being disqualified 27 laps into the race for changing cars after the start of the parade lap.

Author information

Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

Got a potential story, tip or enquiry? Find out more about RaceFans and contact us here.

51 comments on “Pirelli reduce camber limit for Monza”

  1. Wow, 50 years since the death of Germany’s first proper F1 hero.

    It’s incredible to think the last open-wheel fatality was a freak accident, how it was treated and acted upon quickly and professionally. Not like the case in ’61.

    Having witnessed Surtee’s death (I was watching on the TV), it immediately made me want to ensure we do not have to ever want to all come to terms as an F1 community and family with the loss of a driver, a spectator, marshall or team member… It would be devastating for the lot of us really.

    1. Unfortunately, it will happen again eventually.

      1. Hopefully not in my lifetime. Seeing the death of young Surtees was bad enough :/ and the Japanese Motorbike rider, I forget his name… But I watched the clip and it just made me want to be sick.

        1. Tomizawa’s crash from last year? Or the one from 2003?

          1. Daijiro Kato is the 2003 one. Shoya had his number on his racesuit.

  2. On your honemoon?? Wife must’ve been DELIGHTED! haha…

  3. Brilliant move by the American race organisers- looks like a sure way to make the event as unsuccessful as possible.

    1. I wouldn’t read to much into the date of the event. I’m almost 100% confident that even if the race was the weekend after that F1 would still not be attracting any of the fans that watch NASCAR. As the article says, the two forms of motor racing are miles apart and completely different. How many F1 fans do you know that could sit through an entire NASCAR race from start to finish?

      1. and vica versa…

      2. Umm, here’s one.

      3. I have, quite a few times, it’s still motorsport, and at least more watchable than rallying these days.

        It also manages to be about 10 times more charismatic than F1 even though it’s so commercial.

        ‘I’d like to thank the sponsor sponsor sponsor sponsor manufacturer team for their work ad all the guys at sponsor *drink beverage sponsor product ensuring label is visible to camera by turning your head 90degrees*

        1. really? from start to finish? ;)

          1. From ‘Boogity boogity boogity, let’s go racin’ boys’ to the doughnuts :D

            I quite like how the commentators sometimes just shut up and let the noise of the cars play through, and how there’s a lot more team radio broadbcast, even the commentators can talk to the drivers during safety cars, something the BTCC does now too.

          2. I quite like how the commentators sometimes just shut up and let the noise of the cars play through, and how there’s a lot more team radio broadbcast

            Agreed, more of this in F1, please.

            even the commentators can talk to the drivers during safety cars, something the BTCC does now too.

            I really don’t like hearing them do that in the BTCC. It’s always so painfully awkward, you can tell the driver is wishing the commentator would shut up and let them get on with the race.

            I’m all for getting the drivers in front of the media when they’re out of the cockpit, and I’m not impressed with those who always give bland answers in press conferences. But when it comes to actually driving the cars, they should be left alone.

          3. even the commentators can talk to the drivers during safety cars, something the BTCC does now too.

            i know V8Supercars sometimes talk to the drivers during a Safety Car period, or on the Cooldown lap..

        2. What you just described could well be IndyCar as well :)

      4. If it were the weekend after that it’d be over Thanksgiving, a serious American holiday and might draw even smaller crowds.

    2. As someone who lives in Texas I do not think the clash with NASCAR will be that big of a deal. People who like F1 and people who like NASCAR are very different. The only problem I see is the clash with the University of Texas football game. Here in Texas all you here about is the university and its football team. Luckily the game is on a Saturday so it won’t clash with the Grand Prix.

      1. That’s okay then, I assumed there’d be more of a crossover of fans than there is.

      2. Exactly, how many Lynyrd Skynyrd fans are there on here?

      3. You might even argue, it could make it an extra interesting weekend outing, having friday practice, saturday Qualli, then off for a game of football Saturday night and the Race on Sunday.

        Is that football game date fixed on Saturday or could they change dates if they wanted?

        1. It’s not about being able to move the game, it’s about knowing what’s really important in life :-). When I moved to Austin, I was asked to ease up on students certain Fridays so that they can get ready for Saturday football games, clearly showing what the priorities are at UT :-). I found it hard to believe, but it’s a religion there. When Longhorns win, the city is on its feet. F1 promoters obviously aim at a different crowd, otherwise they would above all try to avoid clashing with football.

          1. While I see a point article author makes about final race of NASCAR season I don’t think American football will cause much of a disruption. I’m pretty certain there are football matches played at the same day as many of the F1 races and nobody is concerned about football stealing viewership from F1.
            Last year there were concernes about Silverstone because World Cup finals were played on the same day. Not only did it not matter but if I’m not mistaken the race was a sell-out.

          2. Nice anecdote pH! I think the Longhorn representatives already stated they would be forthcoming in moving a game to avoid a clash when November was first brought up.

            But to be honest, I would think having a nice party on Friday and Sturday might give the best reason for fans of both to mix and make an even better party out of it :-)

      4. Really? Texas has a college football team? I thought all of the football took place North of there at the University of Oklahoma.

    3. I’ve never sat down and watched a NASCAR race but I would never really imagine the two sports would have that big a cross over.

    4. The two events are in two different states (about 3/4 of the width of the country apart) and will be on at two different times. Very very few are going to choose between attending one of the two and they won’t be competing for TV time.

      In fact, I see it as a potential bonus. Waiting for the NASCAR finale? Why not try this other motor sport to kill a few hours?

  4. I don’t think the NASCAR/F1 clash will matter much, I mean who would really choose stock cars over the best racing on earth? Well…rednecks, but they’re hardly likely to be F1 fans.

    It’ll be fine.

    1. It doesn’t particularly appeal to me. I don’t think I could watch it for long. But what annoys me is the ‘chase for the championship’ thing. A worse gimmick than DRS in my opinion.

    2. Anymore crass generalizations that you intend to throw about, or is that you done, Mike? Let’s hope so.

      1. Gees, bet people were literally lining up to watch Talladega Nights with you.

      2. I think there was an element of sarcasm to his comment to be honest…

  5. Don’t they run lower camber at Monza anyway? Since it’s more heavy braking than continuous turning.

    1. yes they do. lower lateral forces so you’d have a more perpendicular tyre.

  6. I’m American.

    No one here cares about NASCAR anyway. More so than any other racing series combined? Yes. But it’s not given a huge allocation of prime sports television and analysis.

    And NASCAR fans tune in by the week. The fact that it’s race 36 out of 36 means only the slightest bump in ratings, races tend to get more viewers when the season is new.

    What the article critically ignored is FOOTBALL SEASON.

    1. This is the real key. With a November date and the present tv contract, the US race will never be on free-to-air tv. There’s simple too much football on Sunday for Fox to ever make the room.

      1. I think its an interesting article, (even though the writer mentioning sunday warmup when its gone for almost a decade makes you wonder) and it even gives the last lines to the football clash you mention.

        I guess that clash and the limited coverage on motorsport pages in newspapers/websites due to the NASCAR final might hurt F1.

        But Speed will be doing their F1 coverage, won’t they? Even if Fox is not likely to show it. Let’s hope they do show it, would really be a chance missed if they didn’t.

        1. I would think Speed will profit a lot more if F1 is a success in the US than otherwise, not the least bc. it would make their F1 contract easier to afford, so I guess they’ll be showing it.

      2. Eastman, I take that as a positive, Fox takes the speed broadcast and makes it worse. One thing in Foxs favour though is that they stuck with Montreal for the whole race, not having anything else to show except infomercials, I gather from your post it will be different in November though.

    2. I don’t really know much about American Football but do they usually play games in early afternoon? I had a feeling night games are much more popular.

      1. Games are basically on the entire day on a Sunday, depending on your timezone. Here on the west coast we can watch from 10am until the end of the day.

  7. WOOOOO i got a mention :)

  8. Pirelli handled the Spa situation very well. It would be too easy for them to stick to their guns so i’m glad they’ve decided to be sensible about things.

    I just hope that the teams are a little more sensible in future and don’t assume they can get away with an incident free race in the future just because they did in Spa.

    1. Its great to see them get things straight after the impression was, that they were in a conflict of sorts with Red Bull.

      Even if they were, good to see they have now settled any disagreements and go on. Even better for them to tell the world that openly.

  9. I dont know why Pirelli took the tyre blistering issue in Spa so personally. Red Bull went beyond their recommended camber limit so the fault lies with the team not the tyre company. I think that most people understood that and the situation did not harm Pirelli at all. I think they are making the situation worse for themselves by being so defensive about it.

    1. I dont know why Pirelli took the tyre blistering issue in Spa so personally. Red Bull went beyond their recommended camber limit so the fault lies with the team not the tyre company.

      I can’t imagine they were very happy with the language used by the likes of Adrian Newey after the race, who shouldered Pirelli with the responsibility for the failure while making no reference to the fact Red Bull had exceeded the recommended limits:

      “Pirelli… were very concerned about the safety of the tyres, they were suffering structural damage […] So our choice was to do what we could to make the tyre safer” (emphasis mine) etc…

      See: Red Bull: Newey relieved after “scariest race ever”

      1. yes, newey was very concerned in spa. not concerned enough to change tires and start from the pits, however.

        1. I’m sure it wasn’t just Newey’s call however, and it’s not unlikely that Vettel and Webber were well aware of the issue and deemed the risk acceptable themselves.

  10. Where is Stephen! :D

    1. The birthday guy – I wish him a great day :)

    2. Shoutout for Stepen here as well :-O

Comments are closed.