Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, Bahrain International Circuit, 2023 pre-season test

Hamilton’s warning over dangers of tyre blanket ban is “fair comment” – Pirelli

2023 F1 season

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Pirelli’s motorsport director Mario Isola has responded to comments from Lewis Hamilton criticising Formula 1’s plan to outlaw tyre blankets.

A new wet weather compound which does not require pre-heating with a tyre blanket has been approved for introduction at round six of season at Imola in May. F1 aims to outlaw the use of blankets completely next year to reduce costs and emissions associated with transporting and powering them.

Hamilton has already driven a prototype 2024 slick compound designed to be used with tyre blankets. However he warned last week the plan was “dangerous” and “pointless”, and cast doubt on the potential energy savings that would be made.

Asked by RaceFans about Hamilton’s comments, Isola pointed out the 2024 compounds are still in development.

Hamilton’s warning over speed differences is “fair”, says Isola
“Lewis tested the tyres in Paul Ricard at the beginning of February,” he said. “It was quite cold in that period and clearly we tested some tyres that are not in their final shape, not the final version of the tyres that we want to homologate without blankets.

“The next step is, and I hope we are successful this year, to find an intermediate tyre that is able to work without the blankets. And at the same time we have a development plan for slick tyres, and we have asked for a few days more than usual to develop these new tyres without blankets to achieve the target to remove the blankets in 2024.

“It’s a long journey, it’s just the first step, it’s a big technical challenge because we have to redesign completely the construction and all the compounds.”

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One of the concerns that has required a redesign for the slick compounds is making sure “we don’t have too much overheating when the temperature stabilises”, said Isola. The characteristics of the tracks can greatly influence how long tyres take to warm up and how quickly they may overheat.

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Hamilton queried the potential energy saving made by banning tyre blankets, pointing out “you have to drive multiple laps to get the tyres to work” and therefore use up more fuel.

“It’s a balance, it is true,” said Isola. “If you need three to five laps to find the grip, obviously you use more fuel. And this should be accounted when you make the calculation between removing blankets or the energy used without blankets or saved without blankets, and the additional fuel to run the car.

“The point is that it depends on how long is the warm-up because if it is three or four corners, you don’t use a lot more fuel. If you need three or four laps, it’s a different story.”

Some differences between the characteristics of the current tyres and those designed to work without blankets are likely to be unavoidable, said Isola. “The drivers are used to exiting the pit lane and drive a car with tyres that are able to generate, more or less, the grip that they have when they stabilise. So it’s a completely different approach also for them.

“It’s difficult to tell you now if we can develop a tyre with exactly the same characteristics of the tyres that we’re using now. Probably they will have differences, because without blankets in any case you need some corners to warm up the tyre. And that means that the drivers need to get used to this new situation.”

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Isola acknowledged Hamilton’s point that the speed differential between cars on cold and warm tyres could contribute to incidents. “If in the out-lap one car is 10 seconds slower than another car, this is creating a speed differential that must be considered,” he said. “I believe that Lewis’ comment was also relating to this.

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“It’s a fair comment. We need to consider all the elements, the fuel, the out-lap. This is why in the next test we are going also to implement a new methodology to evaluate also the out-lap. Because the out-lap without blankets would be a key parameter in the decision.”

Pirelli already supplies tyres that do not require blankets in other series such as Formula 2. Isola says he often asked why developing equivalent compounds suitable for F1 is such a different challenge.

“The difference is 10 seconds per lap. So that means that if you translate that in energy that a F1 car is able to put into the tyres, it’s a different world.”

A past attempt to identify a different type of car Pirelli could use to develop its F1 tyres yielded no suitable alternatives, said Isola.

Revised F1 sporting regulations issued last week confirmed a special voting mechanism will be used to determine whether the tyre warmer ban goes ahead. A vote will be held after a two-day test of the prototype 2024 slicks at Silverstone on the Tuesday and Wednesday after the British Grand Prix.

“There is a plan to have a meeting with the FIA, F1, teams and drivers, to see what is the situation with the development of the tyres for next year,” said Isola. “[We’ll] decide altogether if we are at the right level or if we need more time to develop a tyre able to work without blankets, without affecting the show.”

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Ida Wood
Often found in junior single-seater paddocks around Europe doing journalism and television commentary, or dabbling in teaching photography back in the UK. Currently based...
Claire Cottingham
Claire has worked in motorsport for much of her career, covering a broad mix of championships including Formula One, Formula E, the BTCC, British...

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29 comments on “Hamilton’s warning over dangers of tyre blanket ban is “fair comment” – Pirelli”

  1. I doubt this change will happen for next year as all teams/drivers will have a whinge after that Silverstone test but that will instead end up being a bartering chip they use to get other concessions they do want from the FIA. Red Bull, Mercedes and Ferrari will never back the change while ever they are ahead of others so the FIA are going to have to force the change through and I don’t see that being realistic to implement in teams designs for next year with 6 months notice.

    So in short my prediction is these tyres are coming but it’ll be 2025 and Mercedes, Red Bull and Ferrari will all have a complaint about it over the course of the next 6 months to make sure their introduction is delayed as long as it can be.

    1. You right ofcourse, but the new tyres should be up to temp very quickly as they create a tyre which runs maximum speed on 50 degrees but they need the cars to test that.

  2. I reiterate my point from the previous blanked-related article that if drivers in considerably lower-DF cars (SF, IndyCar, F2, etc.) can drive out-laps on cold tyres without things becoming unnecessarily risky/dangerous for them, so can the so-called world’s best drivers in higher DF machinery when the change eventually happens, be that next year as planned or later.

    Therefore, I wish Mr. Hamilton would care to elaborate on why this couldn’t be the case, given the reality as proven by other series contradicts his claim’s validity.

    1. Mario Isola stated they cannot find anything that comes close to how a F1 car performs to be able to test the tyres elsewhere. That would give some hint to the problem to be solved.

      1. Surely they can get the 2022 cars now and do tests with their test drivers. There should be almost constant testing taking place, with multiple different compounds on different length runs, qualy laps, at different tracks.

        If the FIA and F1 want to implement this change, then they should allow Pirelli access to the previous years cars for testing all year round, not just a couple of days, so they can really hone in on the solution.

        I’m all for the change, I believe the F1 drivers should have as little outside assistance as safely possible.

        1. To be fair, I think this would be a good policy anyway. If we want pirelli to produce decent tyres, they need far more testing than they currently get. Give them some of last year’s cars, at least, and let them go for it. They’d be able to find drivers, and maybe engineering staff, to test them, but without the cars (including engines) they are working with hands tied.

    2. I reiterate my point from the previous blanked-related article that if drivers in considerably lower-DF cars (SF, IndyCar, F2, etc.) can drive out-laps on cold tyres without things becoming unnecessarily risky/dangerous for them, so can the so-called world’s best drivers in higher DF machinery when the change eventually happens, be that next year as planned or later.
      Therefore, I wish Mr. Hamilton would care to elaborate on why this couldn’t be the case, given the reality as proven by other series contradicts his claim’s validity.

      the answer is right there, you’re soo close!

      1. @grat The more downforce, the easier keeping a vehicle on track with cold/low-grip tyres is.

        1. @jerejj Not necessarily as high downforce cars, Especially one’s that rely on ground effects don’t produce as much downforce at lower speed so the slower you go the less grip you have & the harder it can be to get temperature into brakes & tyres.

        2. Except you can’t generate that downforce without speed, and a cold hard tire has no grip, regardless of how much downforce you’re generating.

          Every F1 driver out there: “Driving on cold tires is like driving on ice”

          This flatly contradicts your declaration that high downforce makes cold tires irrelevant.

          1. Not with the new tyres who should work on 50C but the drivers are talking about the current tyres which are hard to get warm. So when they are getting the new tyres there should be no problem what so ever.

          2. That assumes pirelli manage to make a suitable tyre. Given that much of the driver criticism has been based on a test to which pirelli brought a tyre which was supposed to be run from cold but didn’t work well, it’s reasonable for them (and us) to be sceptical.

    3. I reiterate my point from the previous blanked-related article that if drivers in considerably lower-DF cars (SF, IndyCar, F2, etc.) can drive out-laps on cold tyres without things becoming unnecessarily risky/dangerous for them, so can the so-called world’s best drivers in higher DF machinery when the change eventually happens,

      Because we’ve had decades of cars designed to utilise the grip available from tyres of the same general design that have been pre-heated to near the optimum operating temperature.

      Would any of the rather verbal critics of the current F1 drivers like to try and drive their own personal car on a cool day at the same speed but fitted with 1950’s/1960’s spec tyres?
      When you’re discharged from hospital don’t fail to blame your driving prowess rather than the mismatch of car power to tyre grip

      1. Would any of the rather verbal critics of the current F1 drivers like to try and drive their own personal car on a cool day at the same speed but fitted with 1950’s/1960’s spec tyres?

        I absolutely would (and yes, I own a performance car – although it can’t do 350kph).
        Of course – I would drive accordingly knowing the condition and characteristics of the tyres on my car, because that is a factor that always needs to be taken into consideration while driving (especially at higher speeds or in more challenging situations).
        To disregard that fact would be completely reckless and extremely unintelligent. Certainly not becoming of ‘the best racing drivers in the world.’

    4. I always love the part where a random internet geezer who can type knows it better about a topic than the 7-time world champion who tested them only a few weeks ago.

      1. … and the guy who’s in charge of developing those tires.

  3. “you have to drive multiple laps to get the tyres to work” and therefore use up more fuel.”

    So cancel the sprint qualifying/race – that saves lots of laps of lots of cars.

    Lewis carbon footprint is probably already 50x times that of an average Western society person over their entire life not even counting his F1 activities just his private life style.

    Get rid of your private plan and stop jet setting all across the planet – that costs far more fuel that a few extra laps in a F1 car. Actually less grip might mean less fuel as those initial laps you will be driving slower thus use less full. The total race distance stays the same.

    Lewis doesn’t like it because others likely will be better at getting heat in the tires without destroying them. That is why Lewis is so hypocritical – diverting attention away from his own failures. Same as last year he played being an old grandpa getting out of the car only because Russell did much better in the car and Mercedes wanted FIA help to solve their purposing issue.

    1. Get rid of your private plan and stop jet setting all across the planet

      I may be wrong, but I’m pretty sure Lewis has already gotten rid of his private jet… There was quite a lot of media coverage of it, if I recall.

    2. Lewis sold his plane about 3 years ago, but don’t let the facts get in your way.

    3. Lewis doesn’t like it because others likely will be better at getting heat in the tires without destroying them.

      One of the notable things is that Lewis has, over a number of seasons, managed to keep tyres in better condition for longer than a number of other drivers – like Max and Charles, and even the alleged tyre-whisperer Perez.

      But, as “Grat” put it “don’t let the facts get in your way.”

  4. If a car on an out lap is 5-10 seconds a lap faster and it creates passing thats even easier, less exciting & less of a spectacle than DRS already does then i’m sure Liberty will claim the increase in quantity a great success because it’s all about quantity rather than quality now sadly.

    At least with what we have with the blankets we get to see some good, competitive racing if a car exits the pits in close proximity to another car. Without blankets I fear the car exiting the pits is just going to be a sitting duck for a lap or more if tyre warm-up takes too long so while it may produce more passing it’s not going to provide us better racing.

    I also think that if the warm-up is a problem in terms of taking too long it may just push teams to look for more tyre management to aim for less stops and we saw in the extreme comedy tyre phase that cars driving around cruising seconds off the pace managing tyres driving so far below the limit that nobody is been pushed very hard isn’t a fun spectacle.

    1. First reference to the concept of changes in strategy. Good point.
      If the tyre warm-up phase adds 5, 10 seconds or more, to the pit-stop delta, then teams will factor this into the overall strategy and we should see fewer pit stops and more tyre management.
      It will also impact the timing of the stops for the lead group of cars as they will probably fall back deeper into the pack.
      From a spectator’s perspective, this will spice things up in some ways and less so in others.

  5. It’s just politics. Pirelli wants more testing. The teams don’t (and feed them false information about future cars – not necessarily deliberately).

    F1 has unique requirements, but is not as special as some claim. Certainly not compared to Indycar, F2 and LMH. Pirelli is perfectly capable of making tyres for F1 that aren’t warmed. But to get the right balance between performance, reliability and handling they want more testing.

    1. Not so easy to find time to do any testing with so many races on the schedule including as many double/triple headers as we have now.

      They do have the option of testing new tyres during Friday practice but I imagine that isn’t adequate time to test different compounds, constructions & everything else Pirelli would need to run to not just find any problems but also test possible fixes.

      I think the lack of adequate testing time is probably the biggest reason the Pirelli’s have been so bad at times since 2011, They often seem to be behind where they want/need to be. The wet tyres especially have been a common complaint since Pirelli’s first year in 2011 & probably a big part of why we have seen so many more wet weather red flags in the Pirelli era compared to the decade before it.

      I think there is also an issue with the crossover. With the Bridgestones for example there was a fairly wide crossover point where the inters would work well into full wet territory while the full wets were good enough to be run in intermediate conditions for a period. With the Pirelli’s however it often feels like there is this window where the full wets don’t work while also still been too wet for the inters which is why we often sit around waiting for it to be dry enough for the inters.

      1. Absolutely, and that’s definitely a big issue that has hindered Pirelli at various occasions. It’s not that Pirelli is bad at making tyres, but the margins are so small that little differences have a (relatively) big effect.

        But Pirelli itself isn’t blameless. Even here in this article, they say “10 seconds per lap” is “a different world.” That’s nonsense. In F1 there’s often as much as a 6 second difference between qualifying and the race. It’s not a different world, it’s just different. And teams and drivers can and do adapt.

        They’ve also been in F1 for 10 years. They should have built an “F1” car that can be tested with different aero-packages and engine configurations. Someone like Dallara could make such a car, unhindered by regulations (so they can cheat their way to some Red Bull performance), just fine.

  6. The whole premise makes on sense. F1’s energy consumption is negligible compared to the rest of the world. The whole emissions/climate narrative is a complete farce, which aims to make people be controlled and taxed based on their carbon footprint not far in the future. Yes, social credit score system. And you are all buying into that, falling into that trap. F1 is doing the bidding of the elites.

  7. It’s easy to forget that Pirelli pay a lot of money to be in F1 for marketing purposes only. The last thing they want is to run the risk of agreeing to a rule change where their product gets a lot of heat in front of a worldwide audience. They want to be seen as supportive of the cost cutting agenda as long as they’re not going to suffer for it so it’s natural for them to push for more testing/time to build a new product.

    What I would also add is that at no point has anyone in the know suggested that the tyres Pirelli provide are in any way good or that they’re confident in them making new products so give them some leeway, it might take a while.

  8. Every opportunity to downplay Lewis talent and or abilities in an F1 car… And every opportunity to shame him because he HAD his own private jet which as stated correctly he sold some years ago… But the worst for me is the continued denialism of Lewis talent, speed, tyre preservation. And his ability to work with a team to improve a cars performance. The bar just keeps moving for Lewis…. Lucky he is not an alcoholic he would never be able to find the pub… Haha!

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