Can one company do more to damage it's reputation than what's going on now? They've got 6 days to sort it out. I think at some point we are looking at another Indianapolis situation if they keep having multiple high speed failures.
Yes, easily.... Have the same thing happen on their *street* tires ala Firestone. That hurt. This? May turn a few folk off their products, but they'd be making a mistake IMO. These things have nothing to do with their street tires. And we did have a pretty good race after all. Michelin OTOH will never darken a wheel of mine again. They took **** up to a whole other level. Cheers, Ian
Well, I think Pirelli has been dancing around the problem for a while putting their heads in the sand. Now the drivers and teams are saying it's unsafe. At some point, they may just say we aren't driving anymore until we know it's fixed. That's a major, major PR failure.
Not true. They wanted to revert back to 2012 spec (Kevlar belted) tires but couldn't get the unanimous approval needed. Much to their surprise it seems. Again, F1 rules and specs don't change mid season. Sure, they're whining now. But I guarantee they won't refuse to drive. I guess it's possible they may get the approval needed to change more than the glue they use now, but that's about it IMO. Poor bastards delivered what they were asked for and are now getting thrashed. Cheers, Ian
Pirelli gave F1 exactly what they asked. In Canada, Pirelli again wanted to minimize tire wear, but 3 teams (Lotus had the loudest voice) nixed that idea. During this race, Kimi got struck in the helmet and cockpit with rubber debris, and radioed if their objection was sound. He was told it didn't matter now so just keep racing. The teams need to agree on what they want. Firestone is doing great in racing, and due to public demand, the supply of "Indy 500" brand street tires were continued.
It's been obvious to Pirelli that there are structural issues with the tires for months now. They've been loath to say it publicly but its why they've wanted the redesign. I don't blame Pirelli for the tires that they've been forced to produce but I have no respect for a company that would enter into such a arrangement to begin with.
This "tire" situation illustrates why it is so important to be able to test the cars over the race year. At the beginning of the year the tire manufactures bring their new tires to the teams and the team test them and tune the car to the tires. Then later, as the car develops, the car puts higher loads on the tires and if there were any deficiencies not visible at the beginning of the year, the deficiencies start showing up as the cars get fully developed. If there is no testing, these failures start happening in races, at inopportune moments in time.....
FIA may have full testing in lieu of the young drivers' malarchy test. Hopefully MB will be excluded. That way FIA can save face......
A good first step toward safety, comptetitive integrity and rules stability would be to ****can the stupid multiple compound requirement.
The one that let go right in front of Kimi was darn scary. I wondered why a piece of CF wasn't sucked down the inlet. When the tires let go, they sent a huge giant chunk of rubber into the air. It's one thing to just go flat. The way these are self destructing is more like a bomb going off.
Lewis admits to being frightened. When the delam issue started Pirelli made statements about how the drivers maintained control through the event so it wasn't a safety issue. Few called their BS at the time
Regardless of fault it's Pirellis name and reputation on those tyres... They should be properly annoyed. The cost of this situation on them will make their F1 investment plan look like a complete joke. Unfair perhaps, but the reality.
+1000 This is what F1 asked for very openly! If I were Pirelli, I would say that we are changing tire or we are out regardless what the team agree on! The teams and F1 keep crying foul, but will not let Pirelli try to fix the problem. If I were a driver I would have something to say, just like Kimi did in Canada. I blame F1. Stop will all of these dumb rule changes every year (no way its saving money) and go back to how things were in the 90's and early '00's. they're all killing the sport and making borning for the fans.. Jim
People are beginning to listen. It's a shame that an embarrassment the size of yesterday's race was needed but Pirelli, the drivers and the FIA seem to have gotten the message. Even Herr Horner has kept his mouth shut. Which is about the best we can expect from him.
Bernie has said that pirelli will now be allowed testing. Warwick describes the curb excuse "rubbish".
