Beware of soft tires according to Alan Permane

Alan Permane, chief engineer of the Renault team, does not seem reassuring about the use and performance of the tires at Interlagos. It turns out that the soft tires are suffering from significant graining, meaning that the tire ‘blisters’ too quickly, which reduces the performance of the cars.

This phenomenon, which occurs mainly on soft tires and at the front, will certainly force teams to favor hard tires in tomorrow’s race, but since track conditions have been very variable since the beginning of the weekend, the situation could change overnight…

« We were surprised by the difference in grip provided by the track between this morning’s runs and those in the afternoon. There was much less grip for qualifying, and we didn’t expect that. Heikki made two big mistakes in his last flying lap and paid a high price for it. He could have easily made it into the second part, or even the third part of qualifying. Giancarlo, on the other hand, did a good job. But he failed to make it into Q3. » Admits Alan Permane.

It seems that the use of tires is delicate this weekend… The softest compound tended to blister this morning. Like in Canada, we will have to be very careful with the use of this type of rubber: it is possible, if things go wrong, to lose three to four seconds per lap at the end of a stint. This means that we will have to pay very close attention to the chosen strategy: when should we switch to the most delicate compound? For how many laps? That’s what we will find out tonight. Normally, the R27 is quite gentle on its tires, but we did little running in the dry due to yesterday’s showers. We therefore lack data on the subject.

Regarding the Grand Prix, the engineer from Renault is not very reassuring for the title contenders either: « I believe we are not heading towards an easy race. Surprises, even at the front, are therefore not to be ruled out. »

According to ING Renault F1 Team