Pirelli boss disappointed by F1's decision: 'Missed an opportunity'

16:30, 18 Jan 2024
2 Comments

Formula 1 will not continue with 'alternative tyre allocation' in 2024. The F1 Commission has decided to abandon the experiment. Pirelli boss Mario Isola thinks this is a missed opportunity.

Last season, the new set-up was experimented with for several weekends. This required drivers to use the hard tyre in Q1 and required mediums in Q2 and softs in Q3. This also reduced the total number of tyres used in a weekend, which is more sustainable.

There was a lot of criticism from the drivers. For example, Max Verstappen said: "I don't think it's necessary. It doesn't really change anything at all. The fastest cars are still at the front. Often the faster cars also do better on harder tyres, so that actually makes it worse for the teams at the back of the field."

Isola disappointed

So the experiment now disappears into the dustbin. "I believe we’ve lost an opportunity," Isola told GP Racing. "We’ve worked a lot together with the teams’ sporting directors and the FIA and F1 to find a way to reduce the number of tyres without affecting the strategy or the show, and without reducing the mileage on track during free practice."

"We tested the alternative tyre allocation in two events and, while it’s true that in one of these we had a wet free practice [so fewer dry-weather tyres were used anyway], it was quite good – the qualifying with hard-medium-soft was exciting. For me, looking at it as a spectator, we had a very good qualifying. So the decision to drop this format, for me, was not the right one. I believe that if the direction for the future is to reduce the championship’s carbon footprint, we have to accept to lose something."

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Ludizapoli 19 January 2024 at 09:05+ 7253

I didn't know they gave up on that crap with reducing the number of tires to reduce the carbon footprint, I'm glad they did, great news. There are many better and more efficient ways, and this was not one of them.

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Red Bull Cactus 19 January 2024 at 24:40+ 4095

Windsor said that they used to be able to do a whole race on one set of Goodyears. I always found the current system to be at odds with the "sustainability" of F1, because all the excess of rubber might be one of the worst pollutants. No matter what they do with the used tyres, rubber particles just aren't healthy in any situation. But he also mentioned that relay races used to be a thing, i kinda like that stuff, and i think that the pitstops during the races remind me of that. So, for the 'show' i'd like to see an average of 2 pitstops in a race, because it could shake things up a bit, but for the 'sustainability', one set per race would make much more sense. It just doesn't match, F1 is inherently polluting, it's like trying to make a gun less deadly. But of course, in this day and age, you have to at least humor the activists.