practice tires

[scottiraq]

Guys, can someone tell me how to use a different compound in free practice....I click on mediums or hards and it always goes back to softs for the practice runs so now that I am competitive in the field I end up with no softs for the race.

[Tassie]

When in Practice, 'Call car in' from the track and wait for your car to enter garage. Click 'Reconfigure' and then 'Tyres'. Select your new tyres and click 'Confirm'. They will change the tyres and you can then 'Send out' your car again on your selected tyres.

[Blackfyre]

The Rules state that Pirelli will take 2 tyres after each practice. So if you run (assuming it's dry) FP1 = 2 Softs FP2 = 1 Soft, 1 Med FP3 1 Med, 1 Hard. This will leave you with 4 softs for Qualifying and 1 soft for the race. So you will have 1 of each tyre for the race.

They will always take soft compound if no other dry compound is used. So you control what they take back.

If I know it's an abrasive track and want extra rubber for the race, then switch out the Med for a Soft, or even Hard if you want to use 2 hard tyres.(not sure that's a good idea though).

If there is half a session of rain it starts to get complicated. I always use the Med or Hard compound first as sometimes they don't take back the Inters or Wets and take a Soft compound instead. Then you lose two Softs but only used one. Bummer. 2 - 3 laps is enough for them to be taken, so if there's a chance just take it and put on Med for a few laps just to give yourself an extra set of Soft tyres for Qualis or Race.

Prior to the practice session you can select "compound" and choose which tyre you want to start the session with.

[kingarthur772]

I use personaly 1x Hard, 1x Medium and 3x Soft for the both Main-Drivers; the exeption is the experianced Main-Driver, which get in the first Training changed for the Test-Driver (the Test Driver will get Hard tires directly in the beginning).

Thats all what you don´t have to forget in the first Training. That will be enought for the Car-Adjustment and the other Points which are important (Track-Learning, Part-Testing etc.).

Then you normaly have left for Qualifing and Race 2 to 3x Soft, 1x Medium, 1x Hard.

[scottiraq]

I don't run the FP's I make adjustments and sim the practices....wonder if that is why the tires are always soft

[kingarthur772]

If you make it personally you get the better stats, if you let the AI make the Practice about 25% to 35% bader Stats. Try it yourself, you wil see the Difference.

[scottiraq]

Originally posted by kingarthur772:

If you make it personally you get the better stats, if you let the AI make the Practice about 25% to 35% bader Stats. Try it yourself, you wil see the Difference.

I don't do the practices as I am the team principal, not the race engineer. I am generally 70 to 80 on each race.....starting season 6 my Aston Martin car is the number 1 car due to all the research I did after I knew I would make my 4th in constructors I didn't design parts...and, nicely, my car fell from podium contender to a top 10 car the rest of the season. That was good to see seeing the other teams developing better parts than me.

[Goul]

Originally posted by kingarthur772:

I use personaly 1x Hard, 1x Medium and 3x Soft for the both Main-Drivers; the exeption is the experianced Main-Driver, which get in the first Training changed for the Test-Driver (the Test Driver will get Hard tires directly in the beginning).

Thats all what you don´t have to forget in the first Training. That will be enought for the Car-Adjustment and the other Points which are important (Track-Learning, Part-Testing etc.).

Then you normaly have left for Qualifing and Race 2 to 3x Soft, 1x Medium, 1x Hard.

You are better of if you use both softs in FP1, then 1 Soft 1 med in FP2 and 1 Soft and 1 Hard in FP3 ( in general, if you want to save an extra soft or extra med Tyre because Special Track needs, that can differ). In FP1, its all about Setup. short stints only to get 5/5 Setup knowledge. so that you only have to make smaller adjustments in next FP.

Start with soft in FP2, mostly i have 70+ Setup comfort by then. If you have 70-80% setupf, another short stint for fixing setup. If 85+ then long stint for Track knowledge ( you get bonus for Track knowledge for CONSECUTIVE TIME on Track)

Then, start FP3 on soft for final adjustment to get over 95% ( this will give maximum Poins for the Driver) and then a Really long stint with small fixes for the Perfectionist on Hards to Maximize Track Knowledge. A 40 Minute Stint on Track can give you about 45-55% (roughly) of Track Knowledge in that Stint alone.

And yes, this is Completely 180 degress opposite of what real F1 would do.

I sometimes end up having a 100% setup at the Start of FP3 and only have to drive half the session to maximize Track knowledge which in turn saves wear on the Parts.