Update | Tire warmer temperature cut may have been reversed after Verstappen comments

Formula 1 wants tire warmers to be completely out of the sport from 2024. That’s why this year has started reducing the maximum temperature that tire covers can have, with the ultimate goal that in two years time they will are no longer used at all. A very reckless and dangerous plan, according to Max Verstappen, among others, which is supported by colleagues.

This season, F1 started with the drop in temperature in the tire warmers. Where last year it was allowed to be 100C front and 80C rear, this has already been reduced to 70C for this season. For 2023, it must then decrease by another 20C, which means that it will drop to 50C. This has already been tested at the United States GP and it would also be tested in Mexico, already reports the race that appears to have been removed and normal 70C applies. In 2024, electric blankets should disappear completely.

Verstappen predicts trouble

Verstappen has already predicted “a nice drift show” when testing goes ahead with the 50C max, and the Dutchman foresees problems when heaters are banned completely from 2024. “I think we’re going to see a lot of “accidents then. It’s tough. Your tire degradation is going to be very different because your tires are very cold, you slip a lot in the first few laps, your tire pressure is going to skyrocket, so your tires are going to degrade a lot more.

In Austin, the Red Bull Racing driver was already having trouble after running on the toughest compound in testing with 50C and nearly spinning in the pit lane. He didn’t really like it. “At the moment I don’t really appreciate it, but a lot of drivers are saying the same thing and of course we have to find a solution. Austin is always a track where you can easily change tires because of the fast corners,” explains he why it’s even less bad in Austin than elsewhere.

Because where you still have a suitable track in Austin to quickly get the temperature, there are also, for example, the tighter street circuits where it is almost impossible to quickly get the temperature in the tires. “If you go to a circuit like a street circuit, like Monaco, you can imagine half and half conditions, I think it will take you half the race before you get temperature in your tyres,” Verstappen predicts. .

Norris and Magnussen behind Verstappen

Lando Norris agrees with the Dutchman and also says the Austin circuit offered “the best possible conditions” for the tests to be carried out. The Briton also expects plenty of crashes when the new rules are put in place. ‘Yes, they will be there. These were the best possible conditions for these tyres: super hot, hot track temperature, high speed in the first sector to bring the temperature in. And they weren’t nice. So easy to block up front, so easy to block at the back, completely unpredictable,” he said.

Driving on other circuits is a guarantee of problems. “Imagine going to a much colder track, or it’s a bit wet or something. Everyone is going to crash the car at some point. No driver wants that, in principle. A Formula 1 car of the current era that’s so specifically designed with all the aero and everything it’s not made to run on cold tires isn’t like a Formula 2 or Formula 3 car where you can just drive it, dump it and do whatever you want. It doesn’t really work that way. We’ll have discussions about it, between all the drivers and the GPDA.

Kevin Magnussen also disagrees with the decision F1 has made regarding tire warmer regulations and agrees with both drivers. “I really wouldn’t like that because I don’t think Pirelli and the FIA ​​and Formula 1 really understand how hard it is to get heat in these tires even though they come out at 70C. They tried it at 50C and it’s already very difficult. I think it’s because they haven’t driven these cars, they don’t understand,” said the Dane.

The Haas driver therefore thinks it is dangerous to completely remove the tire warmers. “I think there is a safety issue. It’s a very high load on these cars because of the downforce, so the tire has to be quite stiff, so when it’s cold it’s hard, everything like ice. On sports cars I think the tire has a lower working range and is soft so when it’s cold it’s super easy to warm up. At 50C here it’s a big problem. So no tire warmers, a big deal.

Bottas comes with a careful counter-sound

Valtteri Bottas partly agrees with the adjustment F1 wants to make, but believes it should only be done when the tires can handle it, which is certainly not the case at the moment, according to the Finnish. “Now if you pit stop on a hard tire without covers, on a track like this, it’s definitely very risky and almost a safety hazard,” he said in Mexico. “Or on a street circuit with a completely cold set of tires, because at that temperature the tire feels more like plastic.”

So when an adjustment is made to the tyre, perhaps more is possible according to the Alfa Romeo driver. “If the tread changes and if it’s adapted to run in a much lower range, why not,” he is positive, adding that the tires are definitely not ready at this point. “Right now, and the tire that we tried in Austin, it couldn’t handle the 50C coverage, it was really, really, really slippery at the start. And it was Austin and it was hot. So on some circuits, that would already be a problem.

Update 9:40 am (02/11) | Tire warmer temperature cut may have been reversed after Verstappen comments

Pirelli cannot pursue the temperature reduction of tire warmers in Formula 1. The tire warmers are said to be reduced from seventy degrees to fifty degrees in order to save energy, but this has raised eyebrows with Max Verstappen, among others. The Red Bull Racing driver said there will be more crashes. Pirelli experimented last weekend and found a possible solution to the problem.

Drivers’ feedback on reducing the temperature of electric blankets is therefore taken to heart by Pirelli. The tire supplier therefore conducted an experiment in Mexico. “Our research has shown that heating the tires at 70 degrees for two hours instead of three hours uses less energy than three hours at 50 degrees,” Mario Isola said. Motorsport.com. “Our current plan is to offer heating the tires to 70 degrees for two hours by 2023.”