Two Different Ways a Tyre Loses Performance
Degradation and wear are often used interchangeably and describe different mechanisms. Wear is the physical loss of rubber from the tyre surface through abrasion against the track. It is cumulative, largely irreversible, and driven by the roughness of the surface and the lateral loads the corners impose. A circuit with an abrasive surface and long, heavily loaded corners removes rubber quickly, and once enough is gone the tyre's structure and grip change permanently.
Thermal degradation is a chemical process rather than a mechanical one. Sliding and flexing put energy into the rubber, the rubber heats up, and above a certain temperature the compound begins to change in ways that reduce grip. Unlike wear, part of this can be recovered in the moment by backing off or reducing sliding, which is why a driver can sometimes nurse a tyre back into a usable state. The two mechanisms demand opposite responses: a wear-limited tyre needs fewer loaded corners taken hard, while a thermally limited tyre needs less sliding and more cooling, which can mean driving differently rather than simply slower.
