Max Verstappen has warned Formula 1 risks making itself look “stupid” if it goes ahead with plans to ban the use of tyre warmers.
A vote is due to be held at an F1 Commission meeting today on whether to ban the use of tyre warmers. Pirelli, F1’s official tyre supplier, has developed a new range of compounds designed to be used without the electric heating blankets teams have relied on for many years to bring their rubber up to the correct temperature.F1 is keen to ban the use of tyre warmers to reduce freight and lower its energy consumption, as part of its goal to become a net zero emitter of carbon by 2030. It has observed how the paddock’s energy use spikes at points in the race weekend when teams heat large numbers of tyres.
However several drivers including Verstappen have questioned the need to ban tyre warmers and warned doing so could lead to an increase in crashes when drivers leave the pits on cold rubber.
“I don’t think we should head in that direction because it is extremely difficult,” he told media including RaceFans. “People probably don’t know how difficult it is to drive a car with 1,000 horsepower out of the pits already. Especially when the track is also a bit slippery.
“It is not necessary. We already have [them], I don’t think it actually generates [consumes] a lot of energy, these kind of tyre blankets.”
Verstappen said the F1 paddock’s air conditioning requirements consume more energy than tyre heaters do. He also believes the compromises needed to make F1 tyres work without blankets will worsen the quality of racing.
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
“With the tyres, yes, they probably can make it work but then they need to drop the working range that much that once you’re up to temperature the tyre will just be like chewing gum and the pressures will go through the roof. It will not make the racing better.
Other drivers have also raised concerns over the tyres. Valtteri Bottas shared Verstappen’s view that minimum pressures will have to rise even higher as a consequence.
“From my side the pressure rise is still an issue,” he explained. “Because obviously you need to still start with a certain minimum pressure but there’s such a big difference in the temperature, obviously the pressure gets very high and that means you lose grip, more degradation. If you’re following another car, then it’s even more worse. So there’s still work to do, obviously.”
Esteban Ocon, who has not yet tested the slick tyres designed to be used without blankets, suspects a ban would make race strategies less interesting.
“It takes away some strategy games in the race because you cannot ‘undercut’ people anymore,” said the Alpine driver. “We’ve seen different categories trying it as well on a damp track or something when you have to switch to slicks and I just don’t think it is the right thing to do with the technology we have at the moment.
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
“Obviously we’re trusting Pirelli to do a good job with it, but if you have a tyre that works at cold temperatures, it will degrade massively. That is always the problem that you face with tyres.”
Kevin Magnussen, who has tested the development tyres, believes the tyres can function without the tyre blankets, but isn’t convinced it will make for better racing.
“I’ve done a test and it’s okay,” he said. “The tyres are what they are when they’re hot, it’s okay, I guess.
“But the warm-up phase and the out-laps are going to be super, super tricky. I think in a race situation when you need to hurry up on the out-lap I don’t think it’s going to be that much fun. So unless they improve that, I don’t know if it’s going to work.”
Bringing the F1 news from the source
RaceFans strives to bring its readers news directly from the key players in Formula 1. We are able to do this thanks in part to the generous backing of our RaceFans Supporters.
By contributing £1 per month or £12 per year (or the equivalent in other currencies) you can help cover the costs involved in producing original journalism: Travelling, writing, creating, hosting, contacting and developing.
We have been proudly supported by our readers for over 10 years. If you enjoy our independent coverage, please consider becoming a RaceFans Supporter today. As a bonus, all our Supporters can also browse the site ad-free. Sign up or find out more via the links below:
2023 Belgian Grand Prix
- Haas drivers fear losing battle for seventh after “grim weekend” in Spa
- Mercedes optimistic they’re “in the right place for winter” with development plan
- Ferrari not convinced by call to equalise engines: ‘Renault is not so far away’
- Ferrari staying “calm” amid swings in performance from race to race
- Pirelli proposes new “super-intermediate” to address wet weather tyre problems
SjaakFoo (@sjaakfoo)
28th July 2023, 7:47
It’s a dumb idea that’s just done for some pedantic pandering. Maybe the FIA and FOM can drop one of their hospitality units and that would probably save more energy in operation and transport than dropping 80 tire blankets would.
It’s an unnecessary change that only has negative implications, the drivers are correct. They’ll push it through, no doubt, but that doesn’t make it any less dumb.
floodo1 (@floodo1)
28th July 2023, 13:54
this
Craig
28th July 2023, 7:48
That entirely depends on how the tyres warm up. I may be wrong but I imagine tyres that are designed assuming they’ll be in tyre warmers are different to those that are not warmed up before use so it won’t be as simple as simply stopping using the tyre blankets.
osnola
28th July 2023, 9:33
You could find the answer on your question in the article.
No, they are not the same
Jere (@jerejj)
28th July 2023, 7:58
Once again, F1 drivers should either claim SF, F2, IndyCar, etc., look stupid or accept the reality that as they’ve managed without blankets despite considerably less DF, so will F1.
Adrian Hancox (@ahxshades)
28th July 2023, 8:07
@jerejj – absolutely this
SjaakFoo (@sjaakfoo)
28th July 2023, 8:22
Whenever I see F2 drivers weaving about on their out laps in the middle of a race, it does look rather silly and like they’re on a sunday stroll, yes.
EffWunFan (@cairnsfella)
28th July 2023, 8:33
@jerejj
Yeah, I can’t really see the fuss either. I am not saying that MV’s comments are untrue per se, but managing the colder / lower pressure tyre for a few laps should be within these drivers capacity. They don’t have to drive them the same as pre-heated tyres, then crash and complain about the safety. They are all in the same boat, and any time lost will be the same for everyone on the same strategy.
Undercuts would, of course, remain possible as once up to temperature the ‘undercutter’ would still have whatever benefit the new boots provide. The undercutee will have to go through the same process. Whilst this may mean that the pursuing driver may be behind in the first instance, it should be easy to pass the second pitting driver once up to temp given that they will then be going much slower (if what he states is true).
EffWunFan (@cairnsfella)
28th July 2023, 8:35
Sorry. Just wanted to also add that it seems quite obvious in this day an age that we should remove any additional cost item if that item is not fundemental to the racing (or safety, or is for some other reason essential) and effects everyone equally.
Fred Fedurch
28th July 2023, 13:15
“
”
The “unsafe” part of Spa (Radilon, Kemmel) is only a couple of hundred meters from the pit exit
S
28th July 2023, 14:03
Is that supposed to imply that drivers are incapable of driving a little bit slower through there on cold tyres?
Neither the tyres nor the track would be the culprit if something were ‘unsafe’ in that scenario…. Look no further than the driver.
drmouse (@drmouse)
28th July 2023, 12:37
The undercut, though, normally works by exploiting the extra performance of the tyres on the out lap and gaining track position. If the tyres are slower on the out lap than the tyres they are taking off, then you won’t gain track position in a pit stop and will have to make the overtake on track. This wouldn’t be an undercut anymore, and the “overcut” would likely become more powerful.
Yes, if you pit a lap earlier your tyres will be quicker for a lap or so, but you can only use that difference if you can get past them on track quickly.
Alberto
28th July 2023, 11:28
Yea to be honest when the Ferrari 499p spun right out of the pits at Spa couple of months ago and crashed it looks really stupid. Indy car tires without a blanket aren’t a measure, they use more sets of tires a race than F1 does due to the difference of compound, requirements etc.
F1 is the ultimate racing category where everything has to be optimum to make the fastest lap time around any track on a single lap as well as a race distance. If they require a tire blanket to achieve it faster, then so be it we need tire blankets.
S
28th July 2023, 14:05
But they don’t need tyre blankets. They want tyre blankets.
Need and want are two completely different things.
Pjotr (@pietkoster)
28th July 2023, 8:42
So because of environmental issues the want to stop warming up the tyres on a F1 racing car and use less tyres per race. But they added more races even on downtown streetcircuits.
Red Andy (@red-andy)
28th July 2023, 9:37
In theory, an increase in city centre street circuits should be good for emissions @pietkoster, since by far the biggest contributor to F1 emissions is all the fans driving to attend races – if you can reduce the distance they travel, and make it possible/desirable to get there by public transport, then this will be one of the bigger environmental wins F1 can reasonably achieve.
Mayrton
28th July 2023, 11:32
Yes indeed. That is because the latter brings in more revenue which tops any other objective F1 has. Green initiatives are there for PR as long as they don’t hurt shareholder value. It is not that they don’t want to go green, it’ just that they don’t want it at any price. And certainly it shouldn’t hinder maximising revenue.
Bullfrog (@bullfrog)
28th July 2023, 8:45
Funny that they’re having the vote at Spa… if they’d voted at the Hungaroring, or Monza or Miami, or somewhere else hot and sunny, it might stand more of a chance of getting through. Bit of a kangaroo court. Anyway, the tyres have been making F1 look stupid for years now.
Yellow Baron
28th July 2023, 9:54
Yep. So called Pinnacle of Motorsports, that for over a decade has ran probably the worst racing tyres in all of Motorsport.
stjs16 (@stjs16)
28th July 2023, 9:12
Anything that introduces an offset in performance is going to spice up the show. But lets be honest, tyre warmers are the least of the sustainability issues, make tyres last longer (but still have mandatory change), hey, even make them last multiple races, like engines!
osnola
28th July 2023, 9:36
That would be the better solution indeed.
Brings a lot of strategy on the table too.
Checking the tiresets could be simple
Phil Norman (@phil-f1-21)
28th July 2023, 10:36
If the tyres have been designed to work without pre-heating then I should imagine they will be OK (I don’t mean great), without the blankets. That’s been the aim of the change hasn’t it.
Having to pre-warm the tyres has always seemed a bit old fashioned to me in this day and age. But can we trust Pirelli to produce good enough tyres that don’t need warming? They seem to fall short on most things.
Mayrton
28th July 2023, 11:39
My personal experience is that their road car products are not acceptable either (wear and vibration wise).
PacificPR (@streydt)
28th July 2023, 10:50
It’s a bit of a joke to ban tire blankets for environmental reasons when you are racing on tires that are deliberately made to fall apart. What would be good for the environment is tires that last – give teams only 5 sets per weekend and free choice of a supplier – let’s have the tire manufacturers come up with the best compounds. A new tire war might also help with mixing up the field per venue and weather.
Mayrton
28th July 2023, 11:45
Partly agree. The last tire war presented us with such a split of the field. You would know in advance that all cars on tire X would not really participate in the race. That seems something that is not desirable, knowing at the start of the season that half the field will be non competitive. But on the falling apart I agree. Let’s produce a tire that needs to last the whole weekend. Every car gets two sets for the entire weekend. If more are used a grid penalty applies, like with changing a gear box. Yes, it will be difficult to drive, but that’s equal for all.
drmouse (@drmouse)
28th July 2023, 12:41
Agreed, from a sporting and sustainability perspective this would be great. However, that would likely make most races even more processional than they already are.
I suspect it would be great news for Ferrari, though, as they would no longer be able to make as many strategic errors…
pcxmac (@pcxmac)
28th July 2023, 12:01
Cold tires worked back during Super GT days, if they can have them completely warmed up by half a lap, maybe its okay, but perhaps the cars should have cautionary lights to warn the other drivers, because the difference between cold and warm tires is kinda dangerous, especially in the corners, and its not like FP, where you can afford to go offline.
obviously this has nothing to do with saving electricity. Im with Bernie, –sprinklers or bust.
Tambeau (@tambeau)
28th July 2023, 13:05
No to overly criticise Verstappen but do F1 paddock’s air conditioning requirements consume more energy than tyre heaters do, I’ve never seen any figures and it sounds a lot like a statistic just made up on the spot.
If F1 really wants to limit freight and tyre production, why do we talk about tyre sets instead of individual tyres as it used to be. Why not just change the fronts/rears or individual flat spotted tyres. It’s extremely wasteful and costly to scrap a set of almost unused tyres because you get a puncture or damage on one individual tyre on your out lap. And why do we have multiple compounds (not counting inters/wets) why not just one compound per race, with a total tyre allocation per team. Let them mix and match between cars if needed, it’s stupid and once again wasteful to have one car run out of the favoured tyre whilst the second car has a full complement left or has even retired, leaving it’s tyres unused.
Not sure if this still happens, but do all the tyres still get shredded and returned to Pirelli after the race, used and unused. If so, why take so many to a race just to ship them back again, madness.
S
28th July 2023, 14:22
They take as many as they need – as per the allocation for each team.
Unless you propose that teams must use their entire allocation, there will be unused tyres after just about every event, and several others will have only a handful of laps on them.
Matt Todd
3rd August 2023, 1:40
The “greatest drivers in the world” (not that I believe that) can’t drive on cold tires but the inferior drivers in many other series can? Come on now. It’s funny f1 acts like they’re special and have problems no other racing had experienced.