Tyre temperature/wear & clutch temperature F9

The F9 display shows four small windows each containing a 2D profile of a tyre, some numbers and three grey bars.

There are six areas in the diagram - three contact patches, the sidewalls and the air temperature. Each area goes from dark blue (cold) through green (ideal) and into red (overheated). There is also black, but that is only shown inside the tire after a blowout or puncture. Above the tyre diagram, there is a set of three numbers, which give the exact temperature of that tyre part. However, these numbers only represent the average temperature of the whole contact patch (from the inside up to the surface) - if you press and hold Ctrl+Shift, you can see the the actual surface temperature, which rises and falls much more quickly during a race. Bear in mind that since the tyre diagram only shows the top section of the corresponding tyre, a 'flat spot' on a spinning wheel is represented by little flashes of red.

If the tyre diagram changes its colour to orange, it means that ABS is active and is preventing the wheel to lock.

At the top of each window there is a set of moving grey bars showing the footprint pressure of the tyre on the road. The display gives a good idea of how much camber (lean) the wheels have at any given point in time. With most cars there is a change in camber when the body rolls in a corner, but in order to find the most grip the wheel needs to be upright (relative to the road surface), when the bars are level the wheel is vertical to the road.

Last but not least we have a little brown bar that appears inside the tyre diagram, this brown bar refers to the amount of dirt on the tyres. Dirt reduces grip by a huge amount and therefore you should be more careful after a even a tiny 'off' - it can take a few corners to clean your tyres up again.

The F9 display also shows a small bar labelelled "CT". This indicates the temperature of the clutch. Initially, the bar is orange, but then turns to red as the clutch temperature increases.