Fewer pit stops recorded in 2012

By ESPNSTAR.com staff

Mercedes' Michael Schumacher has been a noted opposer of the Pirelli tyres and he criticised the Italian manufacturer earlier in the season for producing fragile and unpredictable tyres. 

Pirelli, who only recently returned to the sport in 2011, have consistently defended the quality of the tyres that they supply and it appears as if they are not entirely to blame for a start to the season that saw seven different winners in the opening seven races. 

Auto Motor and Sport reported that there has been "much less tyre degradation" this year as compared to the previous edition. A total of 560 stops were recorded for the first nine races in the 2011 season but in the current year, that number has gone down to 466. 

The report admitted that weather conditions could be an influencing factor but whether the data was taken from the race in sunny Valencia or rainy Bridgestone, the numbers have been lower over the two years. This year, 49 stops were recorded in Spain and 43 in the Silverstone circuit which is significantly lower than the 65 and 54 that were seen there last year despite the weather conditions being remarkably similar.

Pirelli is said to be testing more compounds to further change the drag coefficients of the different types of tyres available. But it does appear as if teams are getting used to the new system of tyres which many initially feared exhibited a much greater variation of "hardness". 

Journalist Michael Schmidt wrote in the report: "The reason for the decline in pitstops is obvious - the teams and Pirelli have learned."

The German Grand Prix is slated to take place in the coming weekend with Ferrari's Fernando Alonso currently leading the drivers' standings with 129 points. Red Bull's Mark Webber trails him by 13 points at 116 while defending champion Sebastian Vettel rounds up the top three with 100 points.