F1 bows to Lewis Hamilton and George Russell pressure over rule change
Formula 1 chiefs have postponed their plan to ban tyre blankets from the sport from next season.
In line with the sport's sustainability targets, the warmers were due to be outlawed in a bid to reduce the amount of electricity used. And tyre supplier Pirelli has been developing special compounds which warm up quicker while on track.
However, when tested, drivers have voiced concerns about the effects the new tyres will have on grid in colder conditions. And those conditions were high on the agenda at a meeting of the F1 Commission at this weekend's Belgian Grand Prix.
While teams were satisfied that the tyres get up to temperature as planned in the warm environments in which they have been tested so far, concerns remain over how they will fare on cooler tracks. And teams want to gather more information on that before approving the change.
The regulations currently state tyre blankets will be used in 2024, and so the teams would need to vote to change that for the warmers to be outlawed as planned. But it was decided to postpone the planned change for dry tyres until 2025.
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Intermediate tyres which do not need blankets will be introduced next year, though. And the full wets are already in use, having been introduced earlier this season.
It comes after warnings from drivers up and down the grid about safety concerns if blanket-free dry tyres were introduced. As a director of the Grand Prix Drivers' Association, George Russell has been one of the more vocal racers on this issue.
"If I'm being totally honest, I don't think we as a sport are at a position yet to bring these tyres into a racing scenario," he said after testing the newly-developed compounds. "I would be very concerned for all the mechanics in the pit lane during a pit stop. I'd be very concerned for the out-lap from a race.
George Russell was one of the most vocal drivers about safety concerns raised by the plan to ban the blankets (Getty Images)"In cold conditions there will be crashes, I have no doubt about it. And I think there's a lot of work and expensive development going into these tyres I feel like that could be put elsewhere."
His team-mate Lewis Hamilton has called the plan "dangerous", and said: "The whole argument is that taking away the blankets will be more sustainable and more green, but we are using more fuel to get more temperature into the tyres. What is more concerning is that when you go out, the car is skating around, it is very twitchy, and if someone else is on tyres that are working, you could easily collide with them. It is a pointless exercise."
Ferrari racer Charles Leclerc has also tested the compounds, and came to a similar conclusion. He said: "In the conditions that I had during the test, it was good, it went well. But in lower temperatures, I don't know... I haven't tested these tyres in lower temperatures and that's where the big question mark is.
"So it's very difficult to answer whether I will be happy to go. I would like to maybe test those tyres in different conditions and then see whether they are raceable in all conditions."
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