Tuesday, March 9, 2010

2010 Sub 2 Second Pitstop - Is this possible?

Since this season refuelling has been banned, teams will only pit for tyres. The tyre rules have not really changed as teams will still need to use 2 different compounds during the race. And since they will have to start with a full fuel load, tyre management will be important.

What is more important is to change the tyres quickly as that is the only was to jump your rivals in the pit. But that means a tyre change will have to take between 3 to 4 seconds. That is definitely possible. A sub 3 second tyre change would be incredible which quite a few teams have done over the winter testing and at their factories. But a sub 2 second change?

Red Bull have indicated that they have done that. In fact it is rumored that they did a 1.8sec tyre change. Wow. Their guys even went training to get fit fot this purpose just like drivers have to. That would be fantastic. Now even tyre changes are calculated in the tenths.

1 comment:

John said...

every millisecond counts in f1...it does seem like pit stops could determine winning or losing the race this year. I mean last year, teams can still afford minor hicups with the tyre changes while they are fueling up the car in the same time, now they don't get that privilege. it's do or die every time. one mistake could prove costly for the race!