Why is it so hard to warm the tires in Formula 1?
Why is it so hard to get the tires of a Formula 1 racing car up to optimal temperatures? It's often told that drivers are having diffuculty with rising the temperatures.
The tires are heated by the energy that is put into them. If they are too cold, they won't have a good level of grip. If they are too hot, they'll also have worse grip. It's something known as a temperature window - a range where the tire works optimally. The hard part is keeping the tyre within that range.
If a car is slow and does not generate enough downforce, then it can't corner fast enough to heat up the tires. This leads to cold tires, but similarly if the car slips the rear tires they over heat and grip is degrated. When working with physics, there really is no short cut.
There are differences between teams in how easy the car is to set up for optimal temperatures. In the last seasons Mercedes has been very good at this, where as Williams has had cars which has made tyre temperature management much harder.