The Official 2011 F1 thread.

[gp.plus]

^Exactly. They said each tire loses approx 3lbs of rubber during it's running.

So my thought on the marbles thing, instead of putting a "thick" layer of a compound with a fast wear rate, but a "thinner" layer of a more durable compound. So less marbles and such, but still get down to the "slippery" part of the tire quickly.

But, damn was China a good race.

That's some ingenious thinking my friend, you would think the supreme powers that be in F1 could figure that out. But yes China was a great race, i didn't even dose off during the middle laps.

[naplesE30]

Do you engineer tires for 230mph much, or do you just dabble in it?

[quickervicar]

Who's going 230mph?

[E30Kaiser]

Who's going 230mph?

Montoya? I would like to see how fast they hit around Monza in the current cars with the DRS enabled though.

[naplesE30]

well maybee they only engineer the tires for 200mph and hope they hold up. That how most things are designed right? If it works for the wheel tethers it shoould work for the tires.

[tg318is]

Montoya? I would like to see how fast they hit around Monza in the current cars with the DRS enabled though.

Last year Torro Rosso were fastest in a straight line at monza and they hit about 348.5km/h (just about 220mph) from memory, so expect upwards of 350km/h, but it may not have a huge effect cause they run such a low drag aero config at monza anyway.

[gp.plus]

Would probably be more beneficial to have drs work opposite at Monza, close it up through lesmos or the parabolica.

[Hick]

Would probably be more beneficial to have drs work opposite at Monza, close it up through lesmos or the parabolica.

good idea! i wonder if the FIA will think of that

[Hick]

I cant wait until this occurs, not with these drivers but the idea is the same.

Imagine, closing stint of the race. Vettel is out front with Hamilton closing. Only way to pass is with the use of DRS. Mean while Webber has had a bad afternoon and finds himself well out of the points. The team radios to Webber to box this lap and throws him on a set of inters even though the track is bone dry. DRS is then disabled and Hamilton is unable to pass without that 15 kph speed boost at the end of the DRS activation zone.

[YAN-3]

awesome race in china. would of been even sweeter if Webber had a few more laps to overtake Vettel and then Hamilton.

[323iNathan]

I cant wait until this occurs, not with these drivers but the idea is the same.

Imagine, closing stint of the race. Vettel is out front with Hamilton closing. Only way to pass is with the use of DRS. Mean while Webber has had a bad afternoon and finds himself well out of the points. The team radios to Webber to box this lap and throws him on a set of inters even though the track is bone dry. DRS is then disabled and Hamilton is unable to pass without that 15 kph speed boost at the end of the DRS activation zone.

I think the FIA / Race Control would be the ones to decide when DRS is disabled (like how they say if a Race is deemed to be a wet race and therefore the tyre rules go out the window), the same way they send out the message at the beginning (end of lap 2) of the race that it has been enabled.

Don't mean to crap on your idea, I think team strategy is really interesting. One I remember was in Silverstone 1998 where it was pouring with rain. I think Schumacher got done for pitlane speeding, can't actually remember, and was given a 10 second stop-go penalty... Because he'd been under invetigation for a while it gave Ferrari enough time to give Shumi the hurry up and to tell Irvine to stop pressuring Hakinnen so he'd think 'the race is lost, but I have Irvine beaten' and slow down a bit. Schumacher was given the penalty, pitted on the very last lap for it and, having just enough lead, finished & won in the pits. One of Ross Brawn's better moments imo!

[Heysüß]

[pharow]

One more week right? I can't wait....it's taking to long.

[gp.plus]

^^Yup, Turkey, another Tilke track, hopefully, just as exciting as China.

[Jand3rson]

Practice in 29 minutes, boys! Got the DVR set, can't wait to get home from work tomorrow!