Formula 1’s governing body has said it wants to see a larger difference between the two types of tyre selected for each race than was the case last season.

At some stage during every grand prix drivers have to use both compounds chosen by Bridgestone, the idea being to encourage tactical variety and – due to differences in grip and wear rates – facilitate overtaking.

But the FIA feels there was often little perceptible difference between the two compounds in 2008, and says it has asked Bridgestone to change that for this season.

“We wanted to have a bigger difference between them,” said race director Charlie Whiting.

“Sometimes, in 2008, this gap was a matter of one or two-tenths [of a second].

“We thought it would be better if it was bigger.

“The Bridgestone engineers are working on that.”

Bridgestone has developed four compounds for 2009 as a whole, and there have been some murmurs from early testing that the difference between the hardest and softest rubber in the range may actually be too large.

Whiting is sanguine about these reports, but says the FIA will monitor the situation to ensure the difference is not excessive.

“What happens in winter testing is probably not indicative of what will happen in the warmer conditions of the first four races,” he said.

“It’s something we’ll have to look at, as we certainly don’t want too big a difference between the two types of tyres available at each race.

“This said, I think it would be to everyone’s benefit if there were a slightly bigger gap.”

Asked what the ideal lap time difference between the two selected compounds would be, Whiting said: “My personal opinion is at least half a second. But it’s only a personal opinion.

“Sometimes, in 2008, the difference between the two types of tyres was negligible, wasn’t it?

“One couldn’t see the difference between the two, really.”

Toyota’s chassis chief Pascal Vasselon said at the recent Portimao test that he was happy with the compounds his team had tested so far.

“We have tested so far three of the four 2009 compounds, and it appeared to us in Bahrain in December that these compounds are in a very workable window,” he said.

“The tyres’ characteristics are very predictable.

“That means when you are given the theoretical characteristics of the compound, you find on the track exactly the characteristics you would expect.”

source[www.itv-f1.com]

 

This should be a pretty exciting change! Then again, most teams will probably use the same tire strategy anyway, so any real difference in racing won't be obvious.

 

I think the teams that rank lower on the grid are more likely to gamble and should there gamble pay off it will make for exciting racing remember 50% of performance is down to the tires