Double world champion Fernando Alonso is 'very worried' about Bridgestone's decision to bring super-soft compounds as the option tyre for this weekend's Chinese Grand Prix, the Spaniard saying it is entirely unsuited to the abrasive nature of the Shanghai circuit.
The Renault driver claims that the use of the tyre makes the drivers 'look ridiculous' because of the time differential between the option and prime rubber - which was as much as six seconds when the super-soft and hard tyres were used in Australia.
"I think it is the worst decision they made in a long time, because it is a ridiculous tyre for here, for Shanghai," he said.
"I don't know if Bridgestone made the decision or the FIA, but they have to reconsider this type of decision because we look ridiculous on television and we look ridiculous for the spectators, and it is a joke to be in front of TV six seconds slower.
"We will need to change the tyres after five or six laps, is our calculation, because this track is harder than Melbourne and there we only did eight or nine laps.
"And if they want to be funny and mix the results and have overtaking, they can do a better job – a funny solution, maybe they can put us on the wet tyres or something. Like this it looks more spectacular – the difference in the speed. I don't know...
"I'm very worried about this and I'm very sad about this, because we look strange in front of people."
Alonso also revealed that the drivers have not been consulted on which tyres should be used, and added that the Grand Prix Drivers' Association (GPDA) expressed their fears over safety on the issue following the Australian Grand Prix, when Robert Kubica and Sebastian Vettel collided while contesting second place.
"We expressed our concerns after Australia, after the accident of Robert Kubica and Sebastian Vettel – it was due to the difference of the speed," he said.
"He (Kubica) tried to overtake, Vettel was not in control of the car with that tyre, you cannot brake, you cannot turn-in, you cannot do anything. And then Robert had a big crash after that because he damaged the car.
"Then we expressed our concerns and now in the third race we have the same tyre at a worse circuit. This is something that we need to change immediately."
Alonso added that he considered both the super-soft and the hard tyres to be unsuited to Shanghai.
"I think the super-soft on this type of circuit with long, high-speed corners... in Turn 1 it will be destroyed and in Turn 10 there will be no more left tyre.
"One will be too hard and one will be too soft. The right tyre is at home! The soft tyre is at home, and this happened in Australia as well. And the understanding that this is for a better show, for overtaking...
"As I said, for a better show, maybe we can pick up our number and then whoever picks up number 15 can put on wet tyres, or whatever, and it is a better show and it's funny. Like this it is not funny."
Apparently it's not part of a driver's job to look after his tyres anymore.
"We expressed our concerns after Australia, after the accident of Robert Kubica and Sebastian Vettel – it was due to the difference of the speed," he said.
"He (Kubica) tried to overtake, Vettel was not in control of the car with that tyre, you cannot brake, you cannot turn-in, you cannot do anything. And then Robert had a big crash after that because he damaged the car.
This bit is just plain rubbish. They crashed becasue neither would give an inch.
I can understand his concerns but he's blowing the problem way out of proportion.
What tosh ! I am looking forward to the banning of refuelling soon. Then we will see some class driving by those who can look after tyres etc. Maybe it might be time to brng back the following sportscars:
Allan McNish Tom Kristensen Jean Denis-Deletraz (a champ lest we forget)
As I'm sure podcast listeners will know, this, along with diffuser-gate, lie-gate and the Chinese GP itself will be mere trivialities compared to the genuine big news in F1 ...
But in all seriousness, I think Alonso's blowing it out of proportion as well. OK so there might be short 5-6 lap stints on the super-softs. There might need to be some creative strategies (e.g. if there's a safety car, people pitting twice including doing a single lap on the super-softs to get them out of the way). There might be some people on shot tyres (greetings, Nico Rosberg) tumbling down the field while others are making charges. In other words, there might be action!!!
At least it's not like Indy '05 when the tyre issue supposedly raised a safety issue with threats of blow-outs and crashes ...
I think I can understand Alonso's point here. He's just exaggerating it a little, but that's common practise in negotiations. Shouldn't the tyre manufacturer at least bring neighbouring tyres to races, like Supersoft and Soft, Soft and Medium, Medium and Hard, Hard and Superhard, instead of what they brought to Shanghai, Supersoft and Hard? If they can't run properly on either of the tyres, we already know for sure which inanimate object will be ROTR.
Imagine going to the USGP at Indy with compounds as different from each other as these ...
"I don't think we should be used to finance (the manufacturers') R&D because they will produce that engine anyway" said Monisha Kaltenborn. "You will never see a Mercedes using a Ferrari engine or the other way round."
Yannick wrote:Shouldn't the tyre manufacturer at least bring neighbouring tyres to races, like Supersoft and Soft, Soft and Medium, Medium and Hard, Hard and Superhard, instead of what they brought to Shanghai, Supersoft and Hard?
I think it's actually been a great decision to bring two compounds which are not next to each other, because then there's a REAL difference between the compounds. Last year one of the problems was that neighbouring compounds were too closely-matched, and so the whole 'you must use both compounds during the race' rule turned out to be completely pointless, IMHO.
As I'm sure podcast listeners will know, this, along with diffuser-gate, lie-gate and the Chinese GP itself will be mere trivialities compared to the genuine big news in F1 ...
Yes, my mistake, of course I should have scouted this weekend's race meetings for a Reject qualifying mid table in some far off Arab racing season before declaring this news to be potentially big. How very silly of me
Alonso did P2 in qualifying, running on nothing but fuel fumes. I expect he'll start on supersofts (same goes for the Red Bulls, in P1 and P3), pit shortly after the start and go to the hard tyres.
In other words, he adapted to the situation.
Like in Oz, maybe we'll discover that this difference (use the supersofts in the beginning or in the end?) will make for interesting action in the end of the races.
