Got into Formula 1 recently, and they constantly talk about “conserving tires”, but the tires are always on the road? It’s always spinning? Do they just mean go slower??? Why would you want to go slower in a race?
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Racing tyres (Formula 1 is primarily based in England, so “tyres” they are) are very different to the tyres on your road car. The rubber compound is much softer, so that it is stickier and provides more grip. But that grip is only optimum at a certain temperature (around 200^o F) Cold tyres don’t have as much grip, and if you slide around too much on the tyres and overheat them, they will “blister, and “grain” which are indications that the tyre is being destroyed.
So drivers have to keep the tyres at the proper temperature so they have grip but not so hot that the tyres are destroyed. Even within the “acceptable” temperature range, a driver can push the tyres too hard and shorten the life of the tyres. So it is a balancing act: go as fast as you can without taking the life out of the tyres and necessitating an early pit stop for new tyres. In fact, F1 racing can be thought of as a combination of tyre management and fuel management, because they are limited on the amount of fuel they can use, and if they ran at full power the whole race, they would run out of fuel long before the chequered flag.
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