The Incredible Evolution of F1 Tyres

So Formula 1 tyres have changed a lot, from skinny radials on the first Grand Prix cars, to slicks, then grooved, then back to slicks again. The performance improvement has been enormous, where today - the tyres continually (well kinda) support the car at speed of 200 miles per hour and pull up to 6G on the brakes.

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So for this episode of Track Evolution, I’m going to take you from the 50s to today and z
explain what’s changed and why the tyres have continually caused arguments.

Right, so in the 50s they did tyres the old-school way. Skinny, treaded tyres with a relatively simple construction. And really, they weren’t much different from the tyres you would see on a modern mountain bike.

They were supplied by a whole bunch of manufacturers, people like Pirelli, Firestone, Dunlop and Englebert. But if you take a look at the stats, Pirelli were a class above the rest - taking way more wins and podiums.

This was apparently due to them being both faster AND lasting longer - that seems strange to hear as a current F1 fan - but we’ll get to that.

The fronts and the rears were the same size, in both diameter and width - so the cars really didn’t have a whole lot of grip.

Taking a corner was kind of the case of cranking on a whole lot of steering lock, then just waiting for the understeer to end. Typically they would then get on the power and turn the understeer into oversteer - honestly, they were drifting for a lot of the lap.

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#F1 #Tyres

[timjourdanmedia]

you can tell me what you want, but those early 2000s f1 cars with the grooved tires, smaller and narrower body and screaming v10... they are the embodiment and peak of f1 and its looks

[DonatProdanSimRacing]

I think it's worth noting that the transition from threaded tires to slicks in the early 70s wasn't so smooth, in fact back then in the very early days of slicks, drivers often complained how 'snappy' and 'peaky' the tires were as the drivers were used to long lazy slides of older threaded tires.

[andyelliott]

Corrections Pirelli did not remove the grooved tyres when they re-entered F1 in 2011 it was Bridgestone who removed the grooves on the tyres in 2009. Also the 2022 cars will have 18 inch diameter wheels not tyres, the tyres will be more like 22 inches in diameter.

[hannahmillington]

I prefer the cars with the front wings between the tyres not so wide that they cover the tyres - I think the smaller wing encouraged people to poke the car's nose into gaps more as there was less risk of aero damage

[gregorymarsh]

I have a BURNING question:

Classic, vintage, and historic race cars that wear slicks or those old squiggly treaded tires and are used for historic races... are the tires on those cars of a superior compound and capability than their original time period counterparts, thereby making the car much faster, or are the tires engineered to behave like tire technology of the era of the car?

[crazycjk]

Nice to see Scott's son having a go at hosting, what a nice Christmas present from his dad. Didn't he do well too!

[zethyuen]

One of the best series' on YouTube. Excited to watch!

[oncameramastery]

That Scott fellas not bad, give him the job! 😂😂😂

[bassokkie]

Let the teams choose the 3 compunds they want to use for each race. It would add an interesting strategy aspect. Imagine RB going for C1, C2 and C5 an Merc opting for C2, C3 and C4. Or some other crazy

[piccalillipit]

*CONTACT PATCH AREA* does not directly affect grip on most tires. Coefficient of friction does NOT have "area" in the equation [μ = F/N, where F is the frictional force and N is the normal force]
The smaller the contact patch the higher the contact pressure exerted by N so it cancels out. A larger contact path makes the tire LAST LONGER as it spreads the wear over a larger area. Also on super sticky compounds that are actually adhering to the road surface contact path does increase grip.

[shafinibrahimhossain]

6:17

"I was racing in ex F1 cars in Boss GP"

Reminds me of a certain F2 driver.

[akifhossain]

Bono: Where are your tyres?
Lewis: Gone. Reduced to atoms.

[mirkof]

Probably a unpopular opinion but the 2013 Tyre model was brilliant obviously the puncture was annoying but having 3 stops was a much better then 1 stop Tyre strategies that we have a lot of times now and since refueling isn't allowed in f1 Tyres that last very short make the races entertaining

[lancercool]

0:04 when the world's fastest cars rocked positive camber...

glad to live in the most current time available

[__NKB__]

Id love to see the evolution of f1 seating positions. Im planning on replicating the 70’s through 80’s seating positions once i get a sim rig however everywhere i look its either a GT, upright position or knees eye level f1 position and never the in between.

[scotthix]

"In [F1] your tires were twice as big and your car weighed half as much, now your car weighs twice as much and tires are half as wide" Days of thunder

Question what year did the 1 set of tires rule for the whole race start and end?

[pierre]

The tyre blanket really was a great breakthrough.

[alexbitzan]

F1 needs to stop regulating so strictly. The whole idea of the sport is that it is the pinnacle of engineering, but the teams are so limited. The teams should be able to use a variety of engines, more varied aero packages, etc

[owenreaney]

Bro, at first I’m like what happened to you! 😂

[JurijFedorov]

F1: Pirelli please make shit tyres that degrade really fast.

Pirelli: We are the experts.