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

16:30, 18 Jan 2024

byGPblog.com

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."