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Schumi continues his critisism of the Pirelli tyres:
http://bit.ly/Jsj4Nw

James Allen ran a poll post Bahrain in which most seem to agree with Michael's critisisms:
http://www.jamesallenonf1.com/2012/04/p ... ife-tyres/
To which Pirelli responded:
http://www.jamesallenonf1.com/2012/04/p ... on-racing/


In a Poll on F1Fanatic, Most said the tyres should stay as they are:
http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/2012/05/04/f ... -strategy/


I more or less agree with what Kieth says here regarding what the tyre rules should be:
http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/2012/04/27/f ... lli-tyres/


Also Martin Brundle said this:
http://www1.skysports.com/formula-1/new ... On-Bahrain




I think Pirelli have gone a little too extreme this year. Mid/Late last year I think the tyres were about right, The wear & performance drop-off was just enough to bring in some strategy but not so bad that drivers were having to take it too easy on them.

It's hard to see a race full of overtaking, unpredictability and feel good results like Lotus in Bahrain and moan about it, but we're F1 fans, moaning about stuff is what we do I guess.

If Michael (seriously, SHUT...UP... MICHAEL) thinks the championship is about driving on eggshells then we'll see who is the best at driving on eggshells.

F1 goes through eras and in some way I feel like this era is definitely more what I want to see from the sport than anything previously.
It feels like my reward for sitting through nearly 2 decades of refuelling and the races being decided by the final pitstops.

Don't let Michael fool you, the racing he wants to get back to wasn't 100% flat out either, he would invariably take the start then after things calmed down after the first couple of laps if he found himself not in the lead he would back off and preserve his tyres and save his fuel for the 1 or 2 laps he'd get before/after his rival pitted and he could enjoy some clean air.
Then repeat this one or two more times for the race and if he found himself out in the lead then it was time to ease of and save the car to ensure he got to the finish.

OK not all the races were like that, but the majority were.

And the most annoying thing about all this is that Pirelli responded to the FIA request to bring a more racier tyre by saying they would do such a thing but only if they did not receive negative publicity from the drivers after every race.
Yet Michael is on this continued vendetta campaign against them almost as if he is still being paid by Bridgestone to decry a rival tyre manufacturer.

Michael, you're coming off like (to make a reference no-one will get) Dick Van Dyke's character when he guest starred in Scrubs.
If you can't be bothered adapting to the latest developments of the sport then it's time to hang up the helmet, don't expect it to change just because you say so.

One of the great ones. Never forget.

_________________
"Indy doesn't give you a second chance. You have to earn it."

Gilles was the first driver from F1 history that I really became a fan of

_________________
"An idea whose time has come cannot be stopped by any army or any government"


3x TBKL rFactor Hillclimb champion

Mid/Late last year the races were boring as hell. The last interesting race of 2011 was Hungary because it rained. Every race after that had nothing of the excitement of the first half.

Michael is just grumpy because he hasn't got his rock-hard Bridgestones any more.

Or his Werther's Originals.

If he is so desperate for racing on 'good' tyres, why doesn't he piss off to Indycars?

Or is he still too much of a coward?

_________________
Dan Wheldon ¦ 1978-2011
Marco Simoncelli ¦ 1987-2011
Jules Bianchi ¦ 1989-2015
Justin Wilson ¦ 1978-2015

Yeah, I know he's mad and I don't care. I do not care. I did not care then. I do not care now. I'm here to race him.

Hasn't got the balls for ovals.

I think the tyres are fantastic, IMHO to be a great f1 champion you have to be the complete package with the car you have at your disposal, know the regulations of the time, and when to exploit and push those regulations. I don't mean dirty driving, I mean driving the car to the conditions of the regulations. I can think of 2 examples of this. First Alain Prost in 86 (yes I know Williams fucked up) but he wasn't called the 'Professor' for nothing and would conserve and save tyres and fuel and then extract
THE MAXIMUM from the car at THE TIME REQUIRED FOR THE AMOUNT OF TIME REQUIRED. 86 was his best example of this.

The second was Vettel last year. Yes he had the best car, but he made everyone else seem silly. He knew when and how to drive the car fast and extract the most out of his tyres. Look what he did to Webber who didn't know dick about what to do with his tyres. Conversely look at Webber this year so far, better understanding of when and how to use his tyres and looks much better than last year...Vettel and Webber of old returned last time out however...

Michael was brilliant in his time for the fact that he drove accordingly to the regulations and his cars limitations (beyond as well...Hungary 98). Michael second time around has proven that he is a dinosaur, that he either can't adapt or won't. It looks like he doesn't Know when and how to drive to the tyres...that he is a driver of a different era when 90% of his maximum would have been good enough for he knew how to drive the car to its limitations in regards to refuling and sprint racing.
I've held off criticizing Michael for nearly 2 and a half years..but this now reeks of a 'back in my day we used to (insert what ever you like) which was better than today' kind of thing. Time to move on Michael.

Pirelli haven't gone too extreme anyway. Everyone gets used to the new tyres by half way through. By the last quarter of the season, everybody knows the tyres inside out and the races get duller again. We're still in the learning phase of these tyres, so teams make mistakes and don't know it until it's too late.

It's also made more obvious by the fact the teams are closer this year. Last year there was a over obvious pecking order, whilst this year the teams are much closer, so any small error is multiplied.

The tyres are fine. The teams will adapt and things will settle down. The other option is we invite Bridgestone back with the worlds most boring rubber and we go back to everyone running in a Noahs ark two by two.

A little repetitive but I think managing tyres is part of challenge. The rules regarding tyres that could be improved (or removed). Either the two-compounds per race and the obligation for Top-10 to start with tyres used in quali. Another interesting idea could be taking all different compounds of tyres for every race. Maybe we could lose something in racing, but it would be 'genuine'.

i get it!

The last thing I will say about the tyres is, didn't last year have the compulsory placement of ballast because the FIA weren't sure about the tyres, where as this year teams can place their ballast more freely?

McLaren are likely to switch to the higher nose they tested at Mugello last week:
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/99456

Still a better looking nose than all the others.

I'm surprised though, because McLaren have said that the Mugello test wasn't such a big deal.

It's been announced today Interlagos will receive some works: Café corner will be changed due safety reasons, but only for national series. The back straight will become the start/finish straight and new boxes will be built there. The current ones will be kept for national series.

Is cafe corner the one that has the pit lane entrance onto it that caused that fatal accident a year or two ago?

If it is, I can see why it'd need to be changed, yeah....

I have mixed feelings regarding reforms in Interlagos, but we all have to admit, it still needs changes. Café turn is a problem....If a run off area is not added, then they need to create a chicane. I'm fed up of complaints regarding safety there, so between the two options, run off area is better though large parts of important stands may be lost.

The logic behind moving the main straight to the current opposite straight is to open room to series like F1 and other series that require more and more space. So that's really necessary, just like the solution Silverstone found to hold F1 there.

They have also announced they are intending to make interventions in areas surrounding the racing facility, which's an old and necessary requirement. I read something like "building parks near the racing track", which's a good news. If it depended on me, being very sincere, I'd demolish the entire region surrounding Interlagos and would make it look like it was in the 40's, 50's and 60's, a simple racing circuit distant 5 km from the nearest urban portion of the metropolitan area. Population growth near Interlagos sucks.

Going back to the racing course, there are some journalists engaged on a lobby to extend the opposite straight to something similar to what it was before 1990, eventually adding a chicane in the end to cut the high speeds. I really hope the idea go foward, as least to rescue a little bit of what the old Interlagos looked like.

Exactly that one. I recall two deaths there since 2010.

There are two options and the second one (red line) is the most likely to be chosen as it would have a decent runoff area.

Ugh, as much as that's for safety and all, that will ruin the flow of the track

I hope F1 doesn't get any ideas about these changes.....