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Halo, Pirelli adding to overtake problem - Perez

Published on 13 Jun 2018 09:32
9
By: Jeroen Jonkers

Sergio Perez thinks the heavy Halo cockpit protection layout and Pirelli tyres could be adding to F1's overtaking problem.

It is undeniable that last Sunday's Canadian grand prix on the normally exciting Montreal layout was dull.

"We cannot disagree that qualifying in Monaco and Canada were more exciting than the races themselves," F1 sporting boss Ross Brawn said.

"You expect that at Monaco, but in Montreal the winner is normally not decided until the very end."

Sebastian Vettel said after winning in Canada that F1 has always been like that and always will be.

" I don't like how people today are so short sighted. We had seven races this year and I think some were phenomenal, some were boring.

"But next week the World Cup is starting and I promise you that a lot of the games will not be exciting, but still people will watch it," the Ferrari driver said.

And Brawn says that the exciting thing about F1 in 2018 is that the championship fight is close.

"I agree with Vettel," he said. "Not every race can be exciting, even if that's what we're looking for. People will watch for the championship anyway.

"Like Vettel, I'm also a football fan."

Brawn said one solution Liberty Media is nonetheless working on is a budget cap, to bring the slowest teams closer to the powerfully funded front runners.

But Force India's Sergio Perez thinks another couple of ideas would help.

"I don't understand why it was so impossible to overtake," he told Speed Week after Montreal. "The cars are heavier this year because of Halo, and that doesn't help. But the pace difference you need for an overtake is enormous.

"I think that as long as Pirelli does nothing dramatic, we'll probably always have boring races."

F1 News Sebastian Vettel Sergio Perez Force India Pirelli Ferrari

Replies (9)

calle.itw

Posts: 8,527
Probably, and the Halo is going to get a revision that might help with that And the looks, but I dont think thats enough reason to get rid of it completely. But the Pirelli tyres are, as usual, a problem.
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- Jun 13 2018 - 10:37
Freguz

Posts: 160
Yes, better (worse) tyres please. And lighter (and transparent) halo would be nice.

And I think with the team only having 3 engines per year, that means they do not want to push too hard either... F1 is all about saving nowadays, saving tyres, saving fuel, saving engine, saving breaks, saving money :-)
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- Jun 13 2018 - 11:06
- calle.itw
  
  Posts: 8,527
  The current tyres arent good though, thats the problem. They arent fast or very lasting, meaning they spend far too much time nursing instead of racing. Just ditch the current compounds altogether and redo them from scratch. And do give them 4 units per driver per season please, 3 are just stupid. F1 need to save money, sure, but allocations is the wrong place to start at.
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  Jun 13 2018 - 11:28
- Bhurt
  
  Posts: 320
  Do we really know if the tyres are bad? I'm sure the tyres would be quite good if someone bothered to actually run them to the limit rather than coast around avoiding pit-lane like the plague.
  
  No matter what tyres would be available, everyone goes for a one-stop strategy since they can't overtake anybody.
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  Jun 13 2018 - 12:03
- calle.itw
  
  Posts: 8,527
  I dunno if they are bad bad, but they clearly dont fit the bill, if drivers teams and fans alike are displeased with what they offer. I get that its up to teams to leave the drivers out until they are like Bambi on ice, but then again Pirelli could "easily" fix that by simply designing in a cliff where the tyre drops in performance. But the overtaking sure is starting to become a problem. I expect as much from a first season, and the quality of overtakes has generally improved (and quality over quantity IMO), but they need to adress that somehow.
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  Jun 13 2018 - 12:41
f1ski

Posts: 726
Why not let teams have more engines. The current fuel flows hold. They are allowed unlimited fuel flow for a total of 2 laps time allowing max rpm( the noise would be phenomenal). Also 4 compounds a team can choose 3 per race. Shorten the races if need be so total fuel can be less or allow teams to carry up to max fuel load and they can burn it as they please but it would allow more power to be generated at times.
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- Jun 13 2018 - 12:21
- Freguz
  
  Posts: 160
  Regarding the fuel, I think they don't fill the tank with purpose, saving weight, we will always have this saving fuel scenarios from time to time I think
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  Jun 13 2018 - 13:37
RacetoWin

Posts: 95
tires are the main issue with overtaking, instead of drivers pushing their cars to pass cars ahead of them and risk destroying their front tires, engineers are now choosing to do the passes at the front of the field by choosing a better pit stop strategy.

The marbles created by the Pirelli tires are making the race track a one line racing Surface and drivers are not will to take chances passing off line.

The other issue is cars are much larger than recent yeas and this is also causing issues on narrow tracks.

There Is still plenty of issues with teams trying to compensate drivers with rear end feel and mid corner oversteer due Pirelli's mandatory minimum tire pressures.

F1 needs a mandatory tire compound for softness and set the current super soft as the softest compound available, this might help with marbles and get rid of the short stint qualifying tires and force the teams to make passes on the track and not in the pits.
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- Jun 13 2018 - 16:43
denis1304

Posts: 284
and yet cars are getting heavier and heavier ...
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- Jun 13 2018 - 17:45