What’s causing our lack of pace: tire management or setup issues?

[JacobW]

I’m trying to figure out if my team’s recent lack of pace is down to our tire management strategy or if it’s something fundamentally wrong with the car’s setup. We’re overheating the rears way too early, but our telemetry shows the suspension and aero numbers are where they should be.

[Gary.M]

From our last few runs the rear tires overheat pretty early, even when the aero and suspension telemetry look in spec. Maybe this is tire management catching us out rather than a fundamental setup flaw. We tried longer stints with different pressures and the temps still climbed, which felt frustrating.

[Edward.T]

We logged lap time delta versus rear temp and saw a clear correlation: as rear temps crept up the pace dropped more than the aero numbers would suggest. We bumped rear pressures a notch and the heat plateaued a bit, but the pace didn’t rebound.

[Abigail_D]

Are we sure the overheating is the root cause, though? Could something else in the tire model or compound be masking the real issue?

[BrandonH]

I chased an aero tweak that looked fine on data, but on track the rear felt unstable in the heat of corner exit. I kept thinking maybe the tire wear curve was off the model, and that changed how we read the telemetry.