Mercedes and Alpine can’t find a tire approximation

The first races of the season revealed several issues that the teams faced when working with new machines. One – the build-up of the car on the straights – is visible to the fans and solved by the teams with varying degrees of success, while the second is less noticeable and is associated with rubber.

Formula 1 teams are confronted with the fact that tire work is not as obvious as in previous years. This is partly due to the change of leaders from track to track. In the Melbourne stage, only Ferrari was able to quickly bring the tires up to operating temperature on a fast lap and avoid increased wear over a long distance, as happened with Red Bull Racing.

In Imola the situation was reversed. Ferrari has already fallen into the “Pirelli trap” on the home circuit. Charles Leclerc missed the sprint victory because the right front tire started to wear out too early. If the Monegask had won the sprint, the battle could have developed in the race according to a different scenario.

However, Mercedes and Alpine have the biggest tire problems of any team. The tires of the Mercedes car warm up slowly, but due to the high temperature this was not noticeable on the stages in Bahrain and Jeddah. The first signs of trouble appeared in Melbourne and qualifying at Imola was a disaster for the team.

Mercedes engineers continue to puzzle over what the problem is. Obviously the problem has nothing to do with the aerodynamics and kinematics of the chassis, because then it would manifest itself in the race. But over a long distance, Mercedes’ weakness turns into an advantage – the tires don’t lose efficiency over the whole distance, but this is not enough to win – you also need a high starting position and Mercedes has problems with that.

The Alpine machine is the opposite of the Mercedes machine in terms of working with rubber. On the fast lap, the A522 is third fastest regardless of the track type, but once Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon struggle in the race, the situation changes. In the past four races, the Alpine riders had problems with tire grain three times.

Haas has a similar problem, but it’s not quite as pronounced – the team’s car also looks more confident on a fast lap than it does at race distance.

McLaren and Alfa Romeo have a better tire situation than anyone else. McLaren has been able to find an approach to rubber thanks to former Bridgestone specialist Hiroshi Imai, who is regarded as one of the best experts in the tire paddock. Alfa Romeo has no problems as Valtteri Bottas has learned not to put too much pressure on the front tires in the early laps.