Why Do Formula 1 Tyres Wear So Quickly?

There are a few factors that come into play when it comes to why Formula 1 tyres wear so quickly. In this article, we lay down each of these reasons.

Why do Formula 1 tyres wear so quickly?

We all know a Formula 1 car, and everything that makes one, is built for extreme conditions. From the engine to the chassis, the engineering of a Formula 1 car is so meticulously designed and implemented to reach targeted goals and performance. The tyres used in Formula 1 are no exception.

It is a common belief that the rate of tyre wear is the basis of race strategy—alongside aerodynamics – and you can’t separate these two when talking about what makes or breaks a Formula 1 race win.

As a result, tyre wear is a critical factor in the race. It’s also influenced by track temperatures—the track’s surface temperature determines how hot the tires get which then affects grip and degradation rate.

The rate of tire degradation determines pit stops, compounds, and team orders throughout the race, therefore it’s critical to understand why tires deteriorate at the pace they do.

Remember: A tyre’s lifespan is estimated to be around 50 laps. This is due to the fact that track temperature influences how hot the tires become, which determines the grip level and pace of degradation.

How do Formula 1 tyres degrade and wear?

Tyres are a complicated product, with a lot of chemistry involved with making a racing tyre. We’ve treated them too lightly for far too long because of how unimportant they look, but there’s some pretty brilliant science involved with getting them perfect for racing, and it’s entirely conceivable to design a tire that demands a great deal of knowledge to get as much out of it within those confines. Rubber is made up of a variety of components and compounds that are put together using mechanical procedures and different intense heat cycles. Tread rubber undergoes mechanical activity and time at high temperatures in use, which are quite comparable to the procedures it experienced during manufacture. Further of the same procedure, it stands to reason, would modify the rubber even more.

Much like the tyres in other motorsports like NASCAR and Indy Car, the Formula 1 tyres are designed solely for performance and not for longevity. The tyres are engineered to complement the extremes of racing which inevitably causes tyre wear.

During a race, tyres go through different stages that eventually wear them beyond reuse, after which they are returned back to the manufacturer for recycling.

The first stage is an important step in ensuring great performance. To achieve good grip, a tyre has to heat up and therefore become “sticky”. It is a fact that new tyres are slippery at first and will need a lap or two to reach the desired temperature. Teams intentionally heat up a new tyre through this method to prepare them for the actual races. This is called the Heat Cycle.

Blisters form when the inside of the tyre is heated and hotter than the exterior rubber or tread. When the air gets hot enough, it pushes its way through the rubber layers and rips sections off the tread. When the tread on a tire is missing areas, blistering can be noticed. When a tire is blistered, there will be less rubber interaction with the road, resulting in poor grip.

The rubber will melt when the tread of the tire heats up, and centrifugal forces will spread the melted rubber. Tire graining occurs when a piece of the molten rubber adheres to the tread of the tire. The graining on tires makes them feel like sandpaper and reduces grip because the grains hinder the tread from making contact with the track.

Tire graining leaves a little amount of rubber on the racing circuit, which collects away from the racing line. Small rubber components clump together in the corners to form marble-like chunks, which appear as the darker areas on the racetrack. As they overtake another driver, heated tires frequently pick up pebbles, which attach to their tires. As a result, the grip dissipates. At the end of the race, the majority of drivers will pass through the marbling areas, adding weight to their cars. This is another strategy used by teams and drivers racing in Formula 1.

As the rubber on the tire is torn away by the asphalt, a flat spot forms. When a tire is flat-spotted and slips or skids on the track, it will spew white smoke. Because a portion of the contact area has been flattened, flat tires are not precisely spherical. A flat patch will have a substantial impact on a vehicle’s handling because vibrations will develop, potentially damaging the vehicle’s components.

Graining and blistering in motor racing are features of compounds performance rather than safety concerns. It is quite unlikely that you will have a tire explosion or some similar as a result of these two. However, if graining or blistering is not addressed, it can lead to tire failure if you continue to use the tire and wear it down. If you go further than the normal limitations of use, everything might become a safety hazard.

Tyre degradation is a complex equation. It’s a combination of the vehicle, the speed, the pressure and the compound. And although many people try to deny it, weather plays a big part in tyre degradation too. If you put this into mathematical terms – well I won’t go there – but tyre degradation is never going to be linear or predictable. That’s why anyone who characterises it as such is simplifying things unnecessarily. That said, a basic understanding of tyre performance and how tyres work at their optimum can be used as a good starting point to understand why tyre degradation occurs and what is controllable and what isn’t. 

What causes shredding of Formula 1 tyres?

Typically, the culprit is the race track’s extremely abrasive ground. When strips of rubber come off the tire instead of the normal marbles, this can generate the stripping-shredding effect across the surface of the tyres. Sometimes the track surface appears to be low in bitumen, revealing material (pebbles and gravel nearly on their own with nothing in between), resulting in a significant increase in macro ruggedness and making the surface exceedingly abrasive—almost as if you’re driving on sandpaper.

Since 2010, only tyre changes during pit stops are permitted. Refuelling is prohibited, and drivers must begin the race with all of the fuel they will need. This will increase the load on tyres because cars used to be filled with 50 to 60 kilos of fuel, but now they are loaded with 150 to 170 kg.

There’s also something else to think about. Pitstops lasted roughly 6 to 9 sec with refuelling, leaving plenty of room for solid strategy and passing through pits. Pitstops last about 2 to 3 sec without refuelling and planning must be flawless. This small amount of time is frequently insufficient to implement any significant strategy.

However, in a regular Formula 1 race, there were spots to be fought and won by other drivers owing to pitstop mistiming, so then how do the teams make a decision?

The teams’ timing system is more advanced than the one provided to the public and press. It splits the lap across ten sections, instead of the standard three available to us, allowing them to assess the tire’s performance considerably more rapidly. Rather than spending 20 seconds in waiting or more to see if they’re going off, people may see how the results are going every 8 seconds.

Engineers and algorithms analyze patterns and create strategic decisions based on their findings. This serves two purposes: it notifies them when their tyre compound is losing performance, and it allows them to know what performance gains rivals are enjoying by monitoring the cars that are already on a different compound.

What are the common Formula 1 tyre strategies to consider?

When it comes to Formula One and other racing categories, tires and a driver’s ability to use them effectively have always made the difference between winning and losing. In fact, this is particularly true with the present supplier Pirelli.

Teams and drivers are continuously being tested like never before ever since 2011, with tyre supplier Pirelli breaking traditional boundaries with harsh compounds particularly engineered to level up the significance of tire management. As a result, getting the racing strategy correct is crucial.

While tactical decisions are shaped by a multitude of factors, it is true that one of the most essential issues for teams to consider is at what time in the racing event they want to be the fastest. Although it is obvious that the latest line of Pirelli tires is having a significant impact on racing, obtaining solid results from the tyres is proving to be a difficult task. The Pinnacle of qualifying and race success has become making the tire function within its standard “operating window.”

If it were a perfect formula, there would be no problem, but due to the tyre’s sensitivity, optimal performance has always been a fluctuating objective between tracks and over the course of a weekend. Because tires have a very short ideal working window, running pressures, loads, and temperatures must all be carefully monitored and controlled.

Choosing the fastest tire at the start of the race—which is usually the C5 compound known to be the softest available compound—will provide drivers with the assistance they need for a quick escape and gain an advantage early on, but this may lead to a mid and final run sacrifice and maybe at the cost of being surpassed by drivers who are on the faster tyre during the mid and final periods of the race.

Teams utilize intricate computer software to recreate their speeds while employing multiple tactics, but these systems cannot account for other people’s strategies or the possibility of being stopped by a car before them, whether by slower contenders, the environment, or racing mishaps such as collisions or safety cars.

Teams carefully evaluate the probability of such events, which has a significant impact on strategy. The climate is indeed a significant consideration too, as rain often throws most plans out the window.

Flexibility is, at the end of the day, the most important component of any strategy. Those teams that have the most responsive tacticians frequently achieve the best outcomes, as they are allowed to adapt in real-time to extenuating circumstances as well as their opponents’ initiatives.

Why do Formula 1 tyres wear so quickly? – Conclusion

Formula 1 race tyres suffer wear rates that are miles ahead of any sort of common convention. Even by the harshest standards, racing can be a brutal environment. On top of that, Formula 1 teams and tyre manufacturer Pirelli operate under constant manufacturing and testing restrictions, which altogether are enough to make most engineers shudder (I mean, how would you even start to plan a test?).

Ultimately, the process of tyre degradation is what causes a tyre to wear so quickly. There’s no way around it if a team wants the fastest lap and, of course, the championship.