Haas F1 driver Romain Grosjean and team principal Guenther Steiner have criticised the narrow operating window of Pirelli’s 2017 Formula 1 tyres.
The Italian supplier moved away from the high-degradation philosophy they have used in designing their rubber since returning to F1 in 2011, partly due to the new cars and wider tyre dimensions for this year but also after criticism their tyres were too influential in races and didn’t allow drivers to push.
However, while more durable, this year’s tyres are still playing a significant role as teams and drivers struggle to extract the optimum performance. This is particularly true at the front where Ferrari are able to be more competitive against Mercedes, who are having problems, particularly with the ultrasoft tyre.
With Haas being closely associated with Ferrari, it would seem strange for that team to be critical of the tyres, but, so important is solving the mystery of the Pirellis, Grosjean claims it is distracting away from other areas of the car.
“I do believe that not a lot of people are 100 percent sure how to get there,” the Frenchman said initially.
“It’s very tricky. It’s something we need to work on with Pirelli. We need to make it easier, as we’re spending so much time getting the tyres to work. It’s a bit frustrating not being able to work on car balance.
“Ideally, we’d like a wider window, and pretty much more in common between the compounds, so when you change compounds it doesn’t just fall off in the performance,” he added.
That lack of consistency between the different compounds, with some better suited to hotter temperatures and others to cooler, is something Steiner commented on.
“To find it (the temperature window), it’s almost trial and error,” he said. “You go out there and you just find out when you’ve got the grip, then you try to replicate the temperatures. This is now the next problem we’re facing.”
Another issue Haas is dealing with is the ongoing brake issues that have blighted the team since last year. This weekend’s Canadian Grand Prix is traditionally one of the hardest of the year on brakes and Steiner admitted the American team is a little concerned.
“The biggest thing is the confidence of the driver in the brakes,” he explained, “more confidence means more speed.
“They need to be confident that the brakes always operate the same, at the same point, at the same time. That is the most important thing.
“The team can monitor the wear with telemetry, so if we get in danger we can actually tell the driver over the radio that they’re having a problem.”