In the round-up: Sauber team principal Frederic Vasseur is fully behind Formula 1’s new tyre specification for the 2021 season, which RaceFans revealed yesterday.
What they say
Vasseur was asked what he thinks of plans to introduce 18-inch wheels and ban tyre warmers in 2021:
I am 200% in favour. The tyre blankets are just a nightmare. Only the manufacturer explained that you can’t run without the tyre blankets but if you look at [F2] then they are doing it. DTM, the tyre manufacturer explain that it was not possible and then they did it. And it’s just a nightmare, it’s a nightmare for everybody but in [F2] they are able to do the fastest lap in the out lap without tyre blankets and if it’s possible in [F2] I can imagine that we could do it in F1.
And the 18 inches: I think 13 inches – except on a Renault 5 1.1 litre – it was up-to-date 40 years ago. And if we want to be the pinnacle of the technology then it makes sense to stick with the reality. Even 18 inch, I’m not sure it’s the majority of the road cars now, it’s probably 19 or 20.
Quotes: Dieter Rencken
[f1vision]
Social media
Notable posts from Twitter, Instagram and more:
Hamilton on Hockenheim:
"It's a shame we don't have the old circuit. I always say that!"#F1 #GermanGP pic.twitter.com/UgXOEidofL
— RaceFans (@racefansdotnet) July 20, 2018
Did anybody said 18 inches tires? 🤔
Many many days of testing and 16 months of development on several different circuits. ✅ pic.twitter.com/2aCOxHemrs— Luca Filippi (@LucaFilippiLF) July 20, 2018
Shame Mercedes re-signed Bottas. Chance missed. They could really have grabbed the initiative in the championship by landing @danielricciardo.
— Byron Young (@byronf1) July 20, 2018
We do not envy who will be cleaning up the car after FP1…
Do we have any volunteers? 😂🇩🇪 pic.twitter.com/s42Q1VCnJv
— WILLIAMS RACING (@WilliamsRacing) July 20, 2018
Force India on Haas skipping the Hungary test: "it's the most important test of the year, we're trying 2019 parts. But we're a team that has to develop its car over the winter itself…"
— Christian Menath (@MSM_Christian) July 20, 2018
x2 World Endurance Champions reunited 🤜🤛
@Timo_Bernhard is with us today!#GermanGP pic.twitter.com/NUABfGUWok
— Toro Rosso (@ToroRosso) July 20, 2018
- Find more official F1 accounts to follow in the F1 Twitter Directory
Links
More motor racing links of interest:
The car is working well (Ferrari)
Kimi Raikkonen: "On Sunday if the weather stays warm like it was today, for sure it will be challenging for the tyres; it’s going to be more similar to Austria, with a limit on the tyres, and whoever makes the best job in managing them is going to have some advantage."
"We arrived at this track with a few new parts on the car; we have some performance updates we evaluated on Pierre's car to further help the performance from both the chassis and the PU side."
Hamilton warned over interview snub: 'Do not turn your back on this' (The Express)
David Coulthard: "The difficulty with being in a dominant position is you naturally become more conservative because you have more to lose."
Catch-up with Kiwi driving royalty Hartley (Newshub)
"I dreamed of F1 as a kid and looking back it was a ridiculous thing to think it was ever going to happen, but it did."
Traveling the world, sought-after autographs - The life of an F1 superfan (CNN)
"Perhaps like when guys support football teams and they're passionate about that - McLaren's my team."
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Comment of the day
@Montreal95 is unimpressed with the FIA’s tyre tender for 2020 to 2023:
It doesn’t make the slightest bit of sense. No tyre company in their right mind would spend many tens of millions to develop tyres for one year and further many tens of millions to develop a completely new tyre, that has absolutely nothing in common with the previous one. It’s in effect no tender at all. It’s Pirelli or nothing. I’m used to hearing stupid stuff from the FIA but this is another level.
@Montreal95
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday to Dirceu!
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On this day in F1
- On this day in 2002 Michael Schumacher won his fifth championship, the earliest an F1 title has ever been won
Jay Menon (@jaymenon10)
21st July 2018, 0:43
On COTD, didn’t Michelin say that they did not want to consider coming into F1 if it was exclusive? Meaning they want a competition, i.e. tyre war? Apologies if I’ve misread this in the past.
On Bottas re-signing for Merc, its was the right this to do for Mercedes. Maintains stability, and more importantly, keeps Lewis happy. From a fans perspective, I agree with Byron Young’s tweet, it would have been awesome if they took the initiative and went for Dan Ric. In reality, this was never going to be possible. Firstly, with Hamilton signing a mega deal, I doubt even a team like Merc could afford Ric on 20 odd million a year salary. Secondly, as much as Lewis says he will race anyone, I’m sure he’d prefer to be up against Bottas, as I’ve said, its in Merc’s best interest to keep Lewis happy.
It doesn’t sound like a done deal for Ric to stay at RB. It would not surprise me if he ends up at Mclaren, as crazy as that sounds. Alonso won’t stay.
Big Joe
21st July 2018, 1:03
@jaymenon10
Ric and Bot were hanging on what Lewis’s contract said. He wants number 1 status and team-mate vetos like most drivers in his position go for, even if they deny it.
Ron Dennis always tried to give us the best two drivers in the best car. Merc better pray that Red Bull don’t come good. Neither of their drivers can cope with Verstappen and Riccairdo 100% as it is, let alone if RB gain a slight advantage.
KGN11
21st July 2018, 7:40
Care to provide us with the evidence that he wanted all those things you’ve mentioned?
montreal95 (@montreal95)
21st July 2018, 11:32
@jaymenon10 Michelin used to say that in the past. Then they changed their tune. They said they would not agree to join unless F1 moves to modern 18-inch wheels. Nothing about competition mentioned.
And anyway is it all about Michelin? Are there no other tire companies in the world?
Robbie (@robbie)
21st July 2018, 13:41
Michelin wanted a competitor in F1 at a time when ‘gadget’ tires were not being considered. Meaning, they (any of the makers in F1) used to build better tires, for they weren’t being mandated by F1 to make them the overwhelming storyline of the races. So when tires are fairly normal and appropriate and predictable as we would expect drivers to prefer, they aren’t the storyline. If they aren’t the storyline then the only way tires get talked about much, hence providing marketing impact, would be if some teams are on one make and some teams on another.
If Michelin would now be interested in being a sole supplier, that tells me either they are that excited to be the ones making F1’s first large rim tires, or they simply would have no choice in that if F1 only wants one maker then Michelin would have to abide that even if they would prefer another maker on board so we continue to talk about tires even if they’re made stable and predictable.
Patrickl (@patrickl)
21st July 2018, 17:20
@robbie No one was mandated by FIA to make fast degrading tyres. Ecclestone and Pirelli came up with that one. Of course part of that deal whas that they did that, but it was never asked for by the FIA in the original tender.
Michelin was going for the tyre deal at exactly the same time and they wanted 18″ tyres which would be longer lasting (so you’d need less of them) and they wanted the teams to pay them 1 million per year.
Ecclestone insisted on free tyres and he saw the Canada race where tyres strategies spiced things up. Which led him to a last minute Pirelli entrance to come in and take the tyre deal with “tyres must make F1 entertaining” (plus a massive deal to advertise at the tracks to fill Eclestone’s pockets of course).
Robbie (@robbie)
22nd July 2018, 13:13
@patrickl Where did I say the FIA mandated the tires? Wasn’t BE F1 at the time?
Patrickl (@patrickl)
22nd July 2018, 13:31
@robbie True, you said “F1 mandated”, but the FIA is the one who makes the rules and the one who puts out these tenders. So in effect you said “FIA mandated”.
Ecclestone was running FOM. Which ony deals with the commercial side. The EU “mandated” a strict separation between regulatory body (FIA making up the rules) and commercial (FOM dealing with the revenues)
BE obviously lobbied a lot to get things done his way, but ultimately it was the FIA’s choice.
Still I’m glad finally someone realized that Michelin was on a completely different direction than Pirelli was. Based on the same brief for the tender. So it’s absolutely ridiculous to claim that Pirelli was made to create degrading tyres by the FIA.
Paul Hembery was the one who proudly presented this idea and it was accepted by the FIA. That might sound the same on some meta level, but clearly it’s the complete opposite of how FIA and Pirelli have rewritten history to pretend there was never any other option.
Robbie (@robbie)
22nd July 2018, 13:56
@patrickl No I did not in effect say FIA mandated, you did.
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
21st July 2018, 2:45
Again with the road relevance with the tyres… Meh. Its just pointless… Thats a lame reason to change.
Paul Heppler (@paulheppler)
21st July 2018, 4:52
Road relevance ? Really ? How many of us need that on the dirt roads and old pot-holed highways? We don’t drive at the maximum … although this is why I like to see what can be done.
My Hankook’s serve me well (one compound per season)
SparkyAMG (@)
21st July 2018, 7:59
Agreed… I can just about buy the argument about power units needing to be road relevant, as the technology used to recover energy and re-deploy it can filter down to every day road cars in some shape or form.
High performance rubber with a specific operating window and degradation by design isn’t ever going to benefit joe bloggs stuck in traffic on the M25.
Joao (@johnmilk)
21st July 2018, 9:56
Let me add that F1 tyres are so relevant to me that I try to stay away from Pirellis
Jere (@jerejj)
21st July 2018, 7:18
You can’t be more than ‘100%’ in favor or certain of something. That’s the maximum, LOL.
Philip (@philipgb)
21st July 2018, 8:28
I think it means he wants 36 inch wheels
frood19 (@frood19)
21st July 2018, 10:08
@philipgb ha, chapeau!
Bart
21st July 2018, 10:17
I bet he was only 50% serious ;)
KGN11
21st July 2018, 7:41
That old chestnut again, “Hamilton must remember who pays him”
🤦🏿♂️🤦🏿♂️
grat
22nd July 2018, 6:46
Personally, I think interviewing the drivers as they step out of the car is asinine. Give them a chance to cool down, let the adrenaline drop a bit, and let them collect their thoughts.
The only possible reason for wanting to ambush the drivers as they get out of the cars is because they WANT to provoke the drivers into saying or doing something stupid, which is just petty and unprofessional. If I wanted to watch NASCAR, I’d watch NASCAR.
And as for who pays Hamilton, it’s Mercedes AMG Petronas F1– not Liberty Media, not the FIA, not Sky F1, and really, not the fans– while Hamilton’s popularity with the fans helps, the truth is, it’s the wins, the poles and the records he’s helping Mercedes set that determines how much he’s getting paid.
Gemma St. Ivans
21st July 2018, 8:06
I hope no tyre blankets and bigger wheels will make the sport more interesting . Hopefully the aero packages can be tweaked for the better as well.
socksolid (@socksolid)
21st July 2018, 9:18
It is interesting why the 18 inch was specifically chosen? Why not in fact go 19 or 20 inch wheels? I can only imagine the reason being the tire diameter. If you change the tire diameter you’d need new gearboxes, driveshafts and brake discs. Maybe that is the reason. And also the chassis would change because the suspension pickup points would need to be higher.
grat
22nd July 2018, 6:51
Chassis will already change because of suspension differences– with 13″ wheels, the wheels themselves form part of the suspension package.
They still do with 18″ rims, but the tire itself has a much, much lower profile, which rides much harder, and is less forgiving of massive torque.
Personally, I’d have argued for 17″ as a good compromise that still allows a fairly tall tire profile that allows a bit of flex.
Melchior (@)
21st July 2018, 9:43
We are trying to cut costs but we will introduce 18″ wheels………Hmmmmm
Euro Brun (@eurobrun)
21st July 2018, 11:31
Well 18″ wheels are the only way to get your Michelin man back in F1. Stick with 13″ and we’re doomed to Pirelli forever.
joe pineapples
21st July 2018, 9:53
Why didn’t he say 1 million percent, then we’d know he ‘really’ meant it.
Joao (@johnmilk)
21st July 2018, 9:59
On Byron Young’s tweet, in all honesty what could Dany Ric have done better than Bottas this season? Not get a puncture? Not have technical problems? Not have been hit by SV.
A few things change and Bottas is leading the championship, it was deserved that contract extension
montreal95 (@montreal95)
21st July 2018, 11:35
+1 Yap. Pathetic tweet by Young. And pathetic swipe by Force India at Haas
montreal95 (@montreal95)
21st July 2018, 11:37
Thanks for the COTD. I just wish I didn’t have to write it at all. How do they figure at the FIA to even publish something that highlights so badly their lack of intelligence and/or integrity?!
Sergey Martyn
21st July 2018, 15:18
It would be a most logical solution to allow two or even three tyre manufacturers to enter F1 and to give them all the freedom to choose the rim size – then it would become evident which one is superiour. Period.