F1 2011 Tyre Wear & Pit Strategy

[Scott Main]

Hi guys,

Sorry if this has been posted before, but I couldn't see a thread on this and when I tried to search the forums I got a message saying the search function has been disabled.

How are you guys finding the tyre sim so far? I think it's vastly improved over last year but I'm having a couple of issues and while I suspect that it's probably my driving that needs work, I'm interested to see how my experiences compare to others.

I'm doing a 100% distance Grand Prix season before jumping into the career mode - after last years shambles I figured the best way to judge the AI and other bits and bobs was to race in GP with the fully-developed cars. While I'm finding pretty much everything to be an improvement over last year, I'm finding that the tyres are becoming my Achilles heel.

3 races completed, of which two have been dry. Interestingly, Malaysia was wet throughout (started on full wets, changed to inters at around 1/2 - 2/3 distance and won the race) and I didn't have any of the problems that others seem to have mentioned (or at least suspected) with AI not pitting etc.

The dry races have somewhat scunnered me though when it comes to the tyres. Starting on Options, the default strategy so far is always Option/Prime/Prime. When I try to set a O/O/P or O/P/O strategy though, it always ends up with me being warned that at least one set of tyres will be worn by the end of the stint (it varies depending on what number of laps I set for each stint) but it seems impossible to set up a 2 stop strategy with 2 stints in Options.

Thing is, I was keeping tabs on the AI at China, and while I ran the default O/P/P strategy both Lewis Hamilton and Mark Webber ran 2-stop O/P/O strategies. End result was Lewis blowing me away in the final stint (we had been fairly close all race), and Webber catching me by the end.

Have any of you guys ignored the warnings and set up a 2-option-stint strategy? I tried a 3 stopper in Australia but the AI seem to be stuck on 2 stops and I reckon I would only have come in about 4th despite having a good pace (if I hadn't crashed it on lap 48!)

I suspect ignoring the warnings is the way forward, along with finding setups that aren't punishing on the tyres. My driving style is quite aggressive as well, so I suspect I may have to adapt to be gentler on the tyres too.

I would be interested to find out what other people are experiencing with the strategies etc.

 

[Alex Bikazzan]

I usually always go with the recommended strat and change it on the fly. Sometimes I notice the Primes dont go off as quickly and you can easily put in a few extra laps with good times before they're totally worn out.

The options seem to be good for only a little while and the go off VERY quick, and I think I actually hit "the cliff" a few times when going on the options for too long, spinning out, running wide etc. So far I haven't really tried O/O/P, because it hasnt been needed, I've always found myself in a nice gap to both the car infront and the one behind, so havent really had to push that much.

I'm playing on 50% though, so I guess a 3-stopper might make more sense if you're doing 100% races because then you obviously have more time to make up for the time lost in the pits. I think it's definately possible, options seem to be a lot faster on some tracks and I think they modelled the tyre wear really good this year (props CM).

Might be worth changing strats on tracks that dont demand much from the tyres, like montreal or turkey..

 

[Nick Kasapis]

I also found the tyre wear a bit higher than normal... So i edit the database.bin, tyres tab where is says max tyre distance and i increased all values about 10 more.. ssoft was 37.34 and i made it 47.34, so they last a bit more, maybe 2 laps more on 50% races so 4-5 laps if you are carefull at 100%

 

[Jan Köhler]

I just finished my first 100% race, Nürburgring with a Red Bull, all aids off, Pro AI.
I started on Primes and the proposed strategy was O/P.
Around the time of the first pit window, I felt quite comfortable with the worn Primes and wasn't getting significantly slower, so I added another 4 or 5 laps before I changed to the Options in Lap 26. After a few laps out again, I checked how long i would have to stay out to use Options again for my last stint. Nürburgring is a 60 Lap race, so I needed to get 17 decent laps on the Options. It turned out to be quite possible for me to keep setting high 1:31 lap times, so I went for the Options for my final stint. It worked out quite well, finished 4th (got a drive-through because lapping Trulli went horribly wrong...).

 

[Scott Main]

Thanks guys. Looks like I need to do a bit of experimenting to get used to the new tyres!

I also found the tyre wear a bit higher than normal... So i edit the database.bin, tyres tab where is says max tyre distance and i increased all values about 10 more.. ssoft was 37.34 and i made it 47.34, so they last a bit more, maybe 2 laps more on 50% races so 4-5 laps if you are carefull at 100%

I should probably have mentioned I'm playing on PS3, so mucking around with the files is a no-go.

(got a drive-through because lapping Trulli went horribly wrong...).

Haha, I feel your pain! I've had a few "interesting" moments with halfwitted AI blundering around all over the racing line when coming through to lap them.

 

[Scott Main]

UPDATE: OK, so the next GP was Turkey. I had a bit of an "Oh Fuuuuuuuuuu......" moment in Q3 so started P10. I set an O/P/O strategy and ignored the warning that the primes would be shot before I stopped and off I went. Got up to third pretty quickly with the Red Bulls ahead. They were faster than me in S2 but I was slightly faster in S1 and S3, so I was able to eventually catch Webber in the DRS zone. As the stint went on I reeled in Vettel, who slowed his pace a bit (it looks like the AI have to adjust their mixtures too, which frankly was a bit of a worry after last years crap AI) and I got him in the stops.

Nursed the tyres through the middle stint, and long after the engineer had said they would be worn, I was still going well on them. I only finally pitted when I was warned that Red Bull were prepping for a stop - although I had a 9 second lead by this point, I didn't want to take any chances and sure enough on lap 43 Vettel, Webber, Hamilton, Alonso, Massa and me (Button) all went to the options again. Held the lead comfortably to win.

I think I'll be ignoring the warnings in the strategy screen a bit more often from now on...

 

[Camacho]

I have run Monza race and the engineer propose me a 3 stops strategy. My surprise was when the AI cars made 2 stops so I have finished in 11th position despite I had the POLE. Very frustrating... The problem is that I could not made 2 stops because of the tyre wear. The 3 stop strategy was fine for me, but the AI made 2 stops.

I don't understand this difference of wear between the AI cars and me... Please some help. Thanks in advance.

 

[Tom]

Depends on your setup. Custom setups eat into your tyres much more than the default ones. However, they usually provide an advantage so that you can grind out the seconds lost because of your third stop. Well, that's how it should work, at least.