Formula 1 is planning to ban the tire blankets from 2024 in an attempt to improve grand prix racing’s sustainability. Official manufacturer Pirelli has been advocating staunchly for this change but there is no consensus yet on this situation. Various teams and drivers including GPDA president George Russell have their reservations. The matter is set to be decided through voting during the British GP weekend.
The Tire blankets are essentially responsible to keep the rubbers high on temperature. This allows better grip and traction through the early turns and corners. As is a well-established fact that if the tire will lose its temperature it will lose grip and create a hazardous scenario for the driver. Moreover, it can also enable graining, a concept where the tire’s surface starts to wear down unevenly as pieces of rubber tear from the main tire body and stick back on to create a rough surface.
Mercedes drivers George Russell and Mick Schumacher concluded a test in Barcelona recently. During that, the team collected data on tire degradation without the use of blankets. Russell, after the test, was of the opinion that 2024 might to too early to step into this decision. The Briton laid down serious concerns regarding the same, claiming that this will inadvertently cause accidents. Recently, Pirelli has hit back at the young Brit for voicing these concerns.
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Drivers will have to adapt: Pirelli Engineer Slams George Russell
The blanket ban has been one of the more contentious topics in F1 lately. While Pirelli has already started working on blanket-less tires, drivers including Hamilton and Russell are not too convinced with the idea. More recently, Pirelli engineer Simone Berra hit back at Russell’s comments on safety, univocally denying them. Moreover, he claimed that the data collected from the test at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya doesn’t seem to pose any threat in terms of tire performance.
“ln terms of safety, I don’t see from the data that I’ve seen any specific risk. You need to change the way you are driving in the first lap for sure,” said Berra.
“Drivers will have to adapt their driving style, even to protect the tire because you can generate graining even if you push too much in the first corners and the tire is not up to temperature. I respect the drivers’ opinions, that’s for sure. But I think that obviously there will be differences compared to the old products and all the tire management,” he added.
After much deliberation, the final decision is still awaited. There are tests scheduled for two days right after the British GP which will help the teams gather data and form an informed opinion on the matter. We will bring you further updates for you in the future regarding the same.
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