I was doing a qualifying test this evening and afterward decided to run a stint in the race session just to see how it feels. It felt good and I was driving really solidly, so when my scheduled pit came up, I went in and came back out and drove the entire second stint as well. It also felt good and I was driving nicely and not really tired, so I kept going. I came in for the final pit stop which gave me fresh tires and the exact same amount of fuel as the first pit. You would think that it would feel exactly the same as it did when I came out of the pits last time, but I noticed almost immediately that the car felt less grippy than it had been before. I drove it for a bit and a couple laps into the stint it was still feeling off. The ass end was sliding in places I had been nailing perfectly all evening and I'm sure it wasn't just me. It felt like the tires were overheating, that's about how I can best describe it. Like they were going slippery. Anyways, sure enough this lead to my making a spin in lap 9 of that stint when my tires are normally feeling quite fine to drive.

I checked out tire temps and they were not terribly high. From around 88C to 101C spread, which is what I usually run and they weren't any different in the first couple stints.

I also checked the track temp when I got out of the race and it didn't appear to have increased, so I am at a loss as to why this might happen. Any suggestions? Anyone experience this?

Funny you should mention...

In the monza season finale of s7 . I was nailing awesome times in practice, but in quali, the car just felt horrible, same setup .. and then in the race aswell, was nothing like free prac.

can not explain it ... hope tim can

LOL I feel that every race. Actualy always notice grip issues during tha race sessions. I can never press it as hard in race.

I've never run an F1 race, but many times in last seasons CCWS series I had races where the car felt completely different in the race and qual compared to practice. I can only hazard a guess that the track temperature must vary slightly and cause an effect.

Yeah, I think the really big key here is that the grip wasn't poor for the entire race session, it was only after the second pit stop that it dropped off for me.

I'll probably do another test if I get time to see if it happens again.

I think you are just experiencing what anyone driving this series feels at some point. When you start to become familiar with the car you start to feel more of what it's doing. When you start to feel comfortable with the car you start to push it more. That's when you really get a feel for the car and can make the best setup changes.

If the rear is starting to slip out on you then perhaps less front wing, more rear wing, move the weight forward, if it's under braking then move brake bias forward or don't downshift until the last millisecond before you need to accelerate, perhaps take a look at differential settings, possibly rear camber and tire pressure.

Although track conditions can change the amount of grip the car gets...I don't think it changes over the course of the event unless it's enabled...and in F1 it's always off ASFAIK.

This is a simple answer... What is happening is that at quali , free practice, race.. etc there is different track conditions such as temperature at play. These things simulate happening at a different time of day so that is what is going on. Its not your or your driving or your setup. It is just changing track conditions.