Where do I begin if I want to understand tyre tactics better? And what does the type of tyre mean for the performance of the car?
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The main issue is temperature. Rubber gets softer and stickier when it gets warmer, improving grip which is valuable for the driver in almost all situations. When it can increase throttle to full power (like coming out a corner), the driver can’t just floor the pedal as tires would just spin, causing the car to fly off the track. In the corners the speed has to be limited in order to not skid to either side. Before the corner, the driver wants to brake as late as possible (to save time) but can’t wait too long as braking too hard will lock up the wheels, causing flat spots. Basically the driver is constantly pushing the tyres to the maximum grip limit before it’s skidding, the more grip the faster he can go.
So you would think hotter tyres = better. But when they get too hot, they can develop melting spots that could even lead to a blown tyre and the wear increase a lot. Meaning the driver is actively maintaining the temperature in a narrow ‘Goldilocks’ range that isn’t too cold but also not too hot. This is also why you sometimes see periods of alternating higher and lower performance by a driver, as when he can profit from driving a bit faster he can sacrifice the tyre temperature in return of for example overtaking or undercutting the competitors. After a fast period you see the lap times increase slightly as he needs to limit speed to cool the tyres again. Another factor is driving behind other drivers, which will deliver hotter air towards the car which cools the tyres down less, hurting performance. This is often why cars can’t easily overtake on narrower tracks unless helped by DRS and such.
Ultimately when the tyre wears down too far, it can’t be cooled as much anymore, basically as it became thinner and less mass gets heated each time, heating it up more. Queue ‘My tyres are dead’ kind of radio messages, the tyres need to be swapped or speed has to be reduced even more. Then comes the type of tyre, that varies with the inherent softness of the material. Softer means more grip at lower temperature, but wears out quicker too. Harder can sometimes, dependent on the actual compound, last indefinitely if not pushed much. The tactics by the team thus boils down to supplying the tires that balance performance vs durability requirements, in practice you often see a soft tyre to start, then a harder tyre to finish.
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