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It Takes 42,792 Tires To Run A Formula One Season
It Takes 42,792 Tires To Run A Formula One Season-July 2024
2024-02-19 EST 22:11:27

The Formula One traveling circus used up 42,792 tires in 2016, enough to fill up 10 Boeing 747-8 freighters. Track temperatures ranged from 51 degrees Fahrenheit up to 141 degrees. Vallteri Bottas topped out at 231 miles per hour, a new F1 record. Pirelli is once again providing the entire numbers, and they are astounding.

Each year Pirelli likes to give a little breakdown of what it (and the rest of F1) did this season, and it’s the weirdly fine-grained look that actually make the sheer size and scope of F1 understandable.

Just the numbers associated with the Pirelli hospitality suite, which follows the tire team around like an overgrown chow tent, are absurd:

Meals served within Pirelli’s hospitality unit (including tests): Litres of water drunk in Pirelli’s hospitality during the year: Kilograms of pasta cooked by Pirelli’s chef: Pizzas cooked by Pirelli’s chef: Number of different dessert recipes prepared at Pirelli’s Hospitality unit: Desserts eaten at Pirelli’s hospitality: Coffees served at Pirelli’s: almostLitres of olive oil used during the year:

Wow, 420 pizzas. Nice.

But it’s not just the food, as it puts the racing in scale as well:

Total number of tires supplied in 2016: Of these, were supplied for race weekends and for testingOf the tires, were slicks and were rain or intermediate tiresTotal number of tires used during race weekends:, of which were slick tires and were rain or intermediatesTotal number of tires that were recycled: Maximum number of kilometres driven on each compound (excluding tests):

Hard: km (Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull)

Medium: km (Valtteri Bottas, Williams)

Soft: km (Sergio Perez, Force India)

Supersoft: km (Valtteri Bottas, Williams)

Ultrasoft: km (Nico Rosberg, Mercedes)

Intermediate: km (Jenson Button, McLaren)

Wet: km (Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes)

Total number of pit stops: , of which 4 drive-throughs and one was a stop and go)This makes an average of per race, and per driver in each raceMost pit stops in a race: at the Chinese Grand PrixFewest pit stops in a race: in Russia

Total number of overtaking manoeuvres during the season: (*), with an average of per raceHighest number of overtaking manoeuvres at a dry race: in China (**)Highest number of overtaking manoeuvres at a wet race: in BrazilFewest number of overtaking manoeuvres at a dry race: in HungaryDriver with the most overtaking manoeuvres during the year: Max Verstappen, (**)Driver with the most overtaking manoeuvres at a single race: Lewis Hamilton in ChinaDriver who has been overtaken least: Sebastian Vettel, time (by Max Verstappen at the Brazilian Grand Prix, 66th lap, 5thposition)Driver who made up most places on the opening lap: Fernando Alonso, who gained positions on the opening lapTeam that carried out most overtaking: Red Bull, moves (**) – by Daniel Ricciardo, by Max Verstappen, by Daniil KvyatTeam that has been overtaken least: Mercedes, times (Nico Rosberg four, Lewis Hamilton three)

Throughout the course of the year, Pirelli recorded 239,044 miles on its tires, which is actually more than enough for a one-way trip to the Moon.

By compound, it works out as: Hard ; Medium ; Soft ; Supersoft ; Ultrasoft ; Intermediate; Wet Distance covered in testing during 2016 (excluding race weekends): km, of which over Distance covered in races in 2016: kmNumber of fastest laps (in qualifying and races) set by the world champion in 2016: (six in races and eight in qualifying)Lowest average speed at which a dry race has been won in 2016: (Nico Rosberg, Singapore Grand Prix)Lowest asphalt temperatures recorded during a race (on Sunday): in CanadaLowest asphalt temperatures recorded during a race weekend: in Mexico.Highest asphalt temperatures recorded during a race (on Sunday): in MalaysiaHighest asphalt temperatures recorded during a race weekend: , again in MalaysiaLowest ambient temperatures recorded during a race (on Sunday): in CanadaLowest ambient temperatures recorded during a race weekend: in CanadaHighest ambient temperatures recorded during a race (on Sunday): in MalaysiaHighest ambient temperatures recorded during a race weekend: in Malaysia

But perhaps no statistic is sadder than the one about Pirelli’s PR team itself, which apparently blurted out 234 press releases in the past year. Of those press releases, Jalopnik has blearily paid attention to one.

This one. It’s fine.

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