Formula 1: Eight races In and the Tyres Are Going Crazy

For the first time in a long time, I’m back with a Formula 1 post…

This previous weekend saw the British Grand prix play out from scenic Silverstone. I’ve always liked the Silverstone circuit, and the changes made to it a few years back have not changed my opinion. But this weekend saw some very controversial moments, and it leaves us wondering if we should blame the drivers, the track, or the tyre manufacturer.

See, four different drivers had tyres blow out this weekend. For two drivers in particular, Lewis Hamilton and Jean-Eric Vergne, these blowouts were quite spectacular. Lewis’s left rear tyre just seemed to explode. Of course, this happened while he was leading the race and of course this happened just after he had passed pit-in. He made a painful lap of the circuit, losing position after position, before being able to pit and return to actual racing.

Vergne’s incident was similar. Sergio Perez lost a tyre during Practice, and then again during the race. More on the tyre situation in a bit.

The race itself was great. Lots of action all over the circuit. Lewis had the pole and Nico Rosberg had locked out the front row during qualifying. Unfortunately, Nico was unable to hold P2, and Sebastian Vettel stormed by. Mark Webber, in the other Red Bull Renault, has a typical Webber start and bunched up the rest of the field, allowing the top three to open a bit of a gap.

Lewis was actually using Vettel’s standard practice against him, opening up a 1+ second gap before the DRS was enabled. Then disaster struck in the form of the aforementioned tyre explosion. Lewis could do nothing but watch as the field drove by his now injured Silver Arrow.

Vettel gained the lead and looked unlikely to relinquish it. Rosberg tried, but could not catch him up. But the day was far from spent. One of the most uncommon scenes in F1 played out for the world to see. The normally bulletproof Red Bull Renault of Sebastian Vettel suddenly slowed. On-board telemetry showed he had full power to the accelerator, but the car refused to cooperate. Over team radio, Vettel could be heard lamenting the fact that he’d lost the gearbox.

Rosberg returned to the lead and never lost it. Back in the field, his Mercedes teammate, Lewis Hamilton, was putting on a driving clinic. In a car that is normally very hard on tyres, Lewis was passing with ease, and by the time his teammate claimed his second win in the last three races, Lewis was back up to a very respectable fourth place. If he’d been given a few more laps, Lewis likely would’ve attained a podium spot.

After the race (and here’s where we get back to the tyre situation), Lewis was very critical of the Pirelli-supplied rubber. McLaren-Mercedes team boss Martin Whitmarsh stated that we may see a boycott of the German Grand Prix unless the tyre situation is resolved. FIA race director Charlie Whiting has admitted that he considered stopping the grand prix. However, a technical expert for the BBC was granted access to the track and immediately went to examine the kerbing at Turn 4. He found a jagged edge to the inside kerbing. If drivers were taking an aggressive line through the turn, they could cause their own demise.

So is it Pirelli’s fault? A case could be made. The tyres have been nothing short of controversial this season. It was known going in to the season that the Pirelli rubber was meant to degrade faster, resulting in more strategic planning on the teams’ behalf. But a situation like Silverstone had yet to play out, with so many tyres exploding in such exciting fashion.

So is it the drivers’ fault? Again, a case could be made. Some drivers are naturally more aggressive than others. Lewis Hamilton is a prime example, though he has somewhat mellowed with age. I’ve been a fan of Lewis since the first time I saw F1 back in 2008. He had a take-no-prisoners style that drew me to McLaren. But his driving style often left him in a place where it was all or nothing. He was either winning or not even finishing. Other drivers exhibit the same aggressiveness that made me like Lewis. Sergio Perez is one of those drivers. Perez had two tyre explosions. Jean-Eric Vergne is sort of the exception to this rule, as he’s not exactly the most ruthless driver out there.

So is it Silverstone’s fault? Once more, you could make that case. During the grand prix, drivers were warned away from the kerbing. The BBC technical expert mentioned earlier went to The Loop and Aintree Corners and found a jagged edge to the kerbing that could’ve very easily contributed to tyre punctures. The British Racing Drivers’ Club, though, has dismissed this report, saying that the kerbs have been in place since 2009 and never had a problem before. If that is indeed the case, then why warn the drivers away from that particular section of kerbing?

Random Thoughts from the Weekend:

1. McLaren-Mercedes has fallen on very hard time. After having a 64-race points streak snapped last race at Montreal, the team failed to score points once again, as Sergio Perez suffered tyre problems (who didn’t?) and Jenson Button just doesn’t seem to have a strong enough car to score even low points.

2. Next race the boys with the fast cars roll into the Nurburgring for the German Grand Prix. I’m not particularly fond of either German racing circuit, but I suppose I like the Nurburgring better than the Hockenheimring. At least Hermann Tilke hasn’t yet completely destroyed the Nurburgring.

3. The BRDC, in their condemnation of the report of bad kerbing at Silverstone, attempted to focus the blame on Pirelli, but also on the FIA and Bernie Ecclestone. So yeah, more bad publicity for Fifth Beatle.

Driver Standings (a new look at points)

Here in the states, we have a popular form of motorsport called NASCAR. In the last few years, NASCAR revised their points structure to make it simpler. The current NASCAR points system awards 43 point to the winner, and one less point per position down to last place. The winner also gets 3 bonus points and everyone who leads a lap gets an additional bonus point. The last bonus point goes to the driver who leads the most laps. Thus, a race winner who leads the most laps receives 48 points for that race, while second place gets 42. This system replaced what was called the Latford System, which awarded 185 points to the winner, 170 to second, and then decreased, by five points per position through sixth place. Then it just got confusing. So the new NASCAR system simplifies things, but it doesn’t seem to put enough emphasis on winning.

Take, for example, the current F1 points system. The race winner gets 25 points, second place gets 18, third gets 15. Only the top ten get points, and the structure looks like this: 25-18-15-12-10-8-6-4-2-1. In Formula 1, second place gets about 72% of first place’s points. In NASCAR, second place gets nearly 86% of first place’s points. I would like to see NASCAR take on the F1 system. But since that’s not happening, I wondered what would happen if F1 took on a system similar to NASCAR’s.

So I started charting it out. I decided to adopt a similar system in which first place gets 22 point, second gets 21, third gets 20 and so on, but the winner also gets the 3-point bonus, so winning is actually worth 25 points. No bonuses for leading a lap or leading the most laps. In this system, second place receives a point total equal to about 84% of first place’s total.

Here’s the current Top Ten in the Formula 1 Driver’s Championship Standings:

Sebastian Vettel                132
Fernando Alonso               111
Kimi Raikkonen                 98
Lewis Hamilton                  89
Mark Webber                    87
Nico Rosberg                    82
Felipe Massa                    57
Paul di Resta                    36
Romain Grosjean               26
Jenson Button                   25

Under my revised points system, here’s the Top Ten Driver’s Championship Standings:

Sebastian Vettel                156
Kimi Raikkonen                 149
Lewis Hamilton                  145
Fernando Alonso               144
Mark Webber                    135
Nico Rosberg                    125
Felipe Massa                    116
Paul di Resta                    111
Jenson Button                   104
Sergio Perez                     91

You can see that the points are much closer in the revised system. While only one driver is within a single-race striking distance of Vettel in the real points, as many as four other drivers have opportunity to catch him in a single race in the revised points.

The Constructor’s Championship is different, as well. Here’s the Top Five in the current ‘actual’ Constructor’s Championship Standings:

Red Bull              219
Mercedes            171
Ferrari                 168
Lotus                  124
Force India          59

In the revised standings, the Constructor’s Championship looks like this:

Red Bull            291
Mercedes          270
Ferrari               260
Lotus                234
Force India        199

The order is the same, but the point spread is a lot closer.

I’ll be updating this little experiment as the season wears on. Enjoy.