How was your weekend?

Mine was a little something like this:

F1 + Road America

And another thing!

(continued from previous post)  "People were saying today would be a boring race but at Turn 1 these people got very small and silent. At the end Lewis and I were sliding like crazy, finding our way on the limit of our tires, it was extremely tough, but good fun." Vettel after winning the 2011 Spanish Grand Prix on a 4 pit stop strategy. "Surely we are not going the pace of the car, we are going the pace of the tires." What Vettel says after finishing 4th in the 2013 Spanish Grand Prix at Barcelona after Fernando Alonso wins on a 4 pit stop strategy. Pirelli motorsport head honcho, Paul Hembry, goes on then to say "Four stops are too much. It wasn't what we wanted.
However, there's also many factors behind that and we have to make sure we get it back in line with what we've been asked to do, which is two or three". Let me get this straight. When Michael Schumacher was out winning the 2004 French Grand Prix (in the dry) on 4 stops and Seb Vettel was out winning the 2011 Spanish Grand Prix (in the dry) on 4 stop, nothing needed to change. But now is the right time, the middle of the season, to completely overhaul the tires, thus punishing the teams that have gotten a better handle on the tires so far. The tires that were given to all teams prior to the season in 60% scale they could all design their cars around.

Does Pirelli need to change the tires this soon?

It’s clear that Pirelli has gotten it wrong.  Way wrong.  Drivers, team principals, analysts and even casual fans have been critical of the rapidly degrading tires, pretty much since Pirelli has gotten back into the F1 game.  In the past, I have been vocal on the subject about changes needing to be made, and I still  believe they do, but there’s a hitch.  Pirelli was hired by the FIA to create (for some reason) rapidly degrading tires to spice up the racing.  They have done a stellar job at that.  The 2012 season ended with the teams having a good handle on the tires, the racing remained good, and all parties were pleased.  But then the FIA stuck their hand in the pot again and said, “Hey Paul, could you and Pirelli do it again…but even degradier?”  (actual grammar not used).  So Pirelli spiced it up again.  But now it’s gone so far, that even they, the creators of the tires, are saying it’s gone too far and changes are being made, and made quickly, like Canada quickly.  While there are many teams who still have not solved the tire issues (cough*Mercedes*cough), there are teams that have figured the tires out (as well as they can anyways) and have adapted to the game that has been presented to them better than anyone else currently.  The Spanish Grand Prix, despite 4 stop strategies being the norm, proved the drivers can push for the full race on these tires and that changes do not need to come as soon as Canada, if at all this season. 

Total Driver Performance - Post Spain

Stats have been collected and TDP is back and running.  For those who did not see TDP last season here's a brief overview:  We created a formula that weighs the driver's actual performance by combining average qualifying position, average race finishing position and average points per race.  Because some drivers are hurt by their car's performance or another driver, we do not count the race finishes where they are 1) hurt by a mechanical failure or 2) taken out by another driver.  Pretty much if it isn't their fault, it does not count against them.  This gives us a fairly clear picture of what drivers are performing best on the season (the points don't always tell us the whole picture), even if their equipment is not up to snuff compared to their rivals.  Example:  Fernando Alonso 2012 - he had a dog of a car, but overcame it and, according to our TDP, had the best season, even though Vettel again won the title.  So here's where we are after 5 races this season.

Alonso triumphs at home! Our thoughts on Spain...

The Mercedes of Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton locked out the front row of the grid on Saturday, but Sunday was a different story and the author was Fernando Alonso, who charged from 5th to take his second victory of the season.  The entire race was full of Alonso highlights but none were bigger than what happened on lap 1, turn 3 as he passed both Kimi Raikkonen on the outside in 1 strong swoop.  Alonso cut into Vettel's championship lead and is down by only 17 points, while 2nd place finisher Raikkonen is down only 4.  Our thoughts...