Maybe I'm naiive, but I can't believe that this whole tyre pressure incident was an FIA attempt to liven up the season. I can easily believe it was some combination of confusion, ignorance, and possibly incompetence. I know a few people who wouldn't know Gay-Lussac's law, and I can easily imagine someone being asked "go and check the tyre pressures and write them down". They might have a diagram of a car (like the ones you get when you're checking for damage on a rental car) and they just write down the number of the car, and the tyre pressure that they measured at each corner. They might not know that tyre temperatures were relevant. But regardless of whether it was cock-up or stitch-up, there must be a way to avoid this in future. I don't know whether these guys provide TPMS to F1, but surely somebody must do it. http://www.bf1systems.com/product/tpms/ Could this idea work? V(Genuine question)... Could there be a telemetry solution that records the temperature & pressure of every tyre on the grid, at a specific moment? The all-grid snapshot would be sent to the Stewards, Pirelli and FIA. Each team would receive the figures for their own cars. The FIA could mandate that the snapshot will be taken 30 seconds before the formation lap, and every tyre must meet a minimum temp & pressure ratio. Then it's up to the teams to make sure they don't take off the tyre warmers too soon, or risk being penalised. Could that be an option? Feel free to tell me if I'm being dumb.
Don't teams already get tyre pressure and temperature telemetry? They let drivers know when the tyres are at the wrong temperature, and seem to know if drivers have a slow puncture, which presumably comes from a pressure measurement?
Well at least they're actually trying to do a proper job this time, lets see if they can manage. P Hembery: "We will be defining with the FIA a clearer procedure enabling the teams to more easily follow the rules regarding tyre usage. This is important to avoid any misunderstandings, by giving the teams more precise indications to comply with, thus avoiding what happened to Mercedes in Monza”. Pirelli/FIA following up on ruling by Monza stewards
I think if we are logical about this the tyre limit was set for a reason - probably the fact that certain teams had experienced tyre safety issues. They tyre manufacturer took the action to increase the tyre psi to reduce the supposed risk. If we take this as red then the intention must have been for the tyres to be no lower than this figure at any point during the race - regardless of the lack of procedures to implement it.
I agree but again it comes down to the rules and how they are contested or imposed. If it was pure safety then I agree with you that surely they should have been ordered to pit (I used the Ferrari example when they started the race on the inters instead of full wets as instructed), but as noted after the race teams can race under appeal and argue later on technical issues - which I suppose is what happened.
Indeed, like Smog.. which appears could effect the race... I say install high-beam Zenons and be done with it!
Only with a certain voltage, taken by my sons physics kit at a time not yet decided at any point during the race weekend. If deemed above this voltage the offending car will excluded unless the lens and bulb are broken in which case we will take the word of the Halfords work experience kid who fitted it!