Pirelli the puppet masters

[SectorOne]

Alonso made a good point at Silverstone,
Harder compounds favor two teams, and softer compounds favor the other two in general.

So the problem here is that Pirelli is in charge of determining how hard or soft compounds to bring to a track and essentially have the ability to steer the championship because of this.
Not saying it´s a huge impact but rather a small sail gently tugging it in one direction if they so please.
Obviously Pirelli has it´s limitations of how hard or soft compound to bring to a given track like for example SS would probably not be ideal at Silverstone but with 4 different compounds there´s definitely some room there.

or it´s a bit late and i´m just rambling..

[radosav]

Each race one softer and one harder compound,maybe ?

[Slife]

The same could probably be said for any single tire supplier in any race series.

[scotty86]

I personally always liked the rule that was in place in, i think, 1997 (i am not sure about other seasons around that time) where two compounds were available - teams had to pick either softer or harder tyres before quali, and then stick with it from then on throughout the remainder of the race weekend. I have been wishing something like that would come back for a while, but especially now. Teams would live and die by their own decision, hopefully stopping a some of the whining about a certain compound not working for them. In my view it would also create a great strategic dynamic for us to look at. I would argue that the pros of this system certainly outweigh the cons when compared to the current rules.

[Just_a_fan]

Alonso/ Ferrari just playing their usual games because it's not going their way. Same as Horner continually moaning about Mercedes' tyre test and, in previous years, the Renault engine "power deficit" issue. It's all mind games and politics.

If Alonso was in Vettel's position in the title race you can be sure he'd be less vocal about it.

In summary: Driver/Team* not happy with their results. Nothing new there then.

*delete as necessary

[Just_a_fan]

I personally always liked the rule that was in place in, i think, 1997 (i am not sure about other seasons around that time) where two compounds were available - teams had to pick either softer or harder tyres before quali, and then stick with it from then on throughout the remainder of the race weekend.

This was abandoned because the tyre supplier was bringing tyres to races which were never being used. That's why the rules require both tyres are used - so the tyres are used up. The cost of bringing all of those unwanted tyres to each race was ridiculous.

The better situation would be as the old Goodyear days; Goodyear would bring whatever tyre they felt suitable and the teams would just have to get on and use it. But that also be open to manipulation by the tyre company as they could affect results by tyre choice. Unless they were required to declare the tyres for the entire season up front. At least teams would know what they were dealing with.

[scotty86]

I personally always liked the rule that was in place in, i think, 1997 (i am not sure about other seasons around that time) where two compounds were available - teams had to pick either softer or harder tyres before quali, and then stick with it from then on throughout the remainder of the race weekend.

This was abandoned because the tyre supplier was bringing tyres to races which were never being used. That's why the rules require both tyres are used - so the tyres are used up. The cost of bringing all of those unwanted tyres to each race was ridiculous.

Indeed that would have fallen under my list of cons, but cost never gets in the way in F1, when the boot fits... just look at the schedule and the excesses in air transport mileage that are still very present. Btw - every other explaination i have ever heard about the 'dual-compound-use rule' is that Bridgestone wanted tyres to remain a topic of conversation come 2007, i've never heard your theory before.

[raymondu999]

I absolutely disagree on the harder tyres automatically favoring the Red Bull/Mercedes band and hurting the Ferrari/Lotus band. I don't believe the opposite, either - I think it's to be seen on a case by case basis.

For example. Take Bahrain. We saw Vettel go OPPP, and the Lotus of Raikkonen go OPP. Had we seen the soft and hard, as originally slated, rather than medium and hard - that would have hurt Raikkonen more. Looking at Vettel's stint lengths he had some in hand in terms of tyre life - and I believe he could have gone soft-hard-hard-hard anyways. Raikkonen, however, I do not believe would have been able to do a soft-hard-hard. The change from soft to medium in effect helped Lotus cancel the need for a whole pitstop.