The plan to reduce Formula 1 tyre blanket temperatures from 70°C to 50°C in 2023 is being reconsidered and may be scrapped.
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The shift has long been planned as part of a larger overhaul for 2024, when tyre blanket use is slated to be completely eliminated as part of the championship’s sustainability effort. However, lowering tyre blanket temperature alone has been unpopular with drivers and has been in the news recently, particularly after the previous US Grand Prix, where the first of two in-event 2023 tyre tests were done, before the second in Mexico last weekend. Red Bull’s world champion Max Verstappen said the move would lead to “a lotofcrashes”,while McLaren’s Lando Norris felt “everyone’s going to shunt their car at some point”.
In response to the driver’s remarks following the Austin test, Pirelli undertook an experiment for the Mexico test in which the tyres were heated in blankets at 70°C for two hours rather than the usual three, which would have remained the operation for the 50°C limit being introduced. Pirelli supposedly determined that this adjustment consumed less energy overall while also assuaging drivers’ fears. Pirelli motorsport boss Mario Isola then told Motorsport.com that while “the plan is still not to have a blanket for 2024,” “for next year the investigation of our analysis said that if you warm the tyres at 70°C for two hours rather than three hours, you save more energy than the blankets at 50°C for three hours.”
“Because this is the period of blanket that is using a lot more energy – it’s like the oven at home,” he continued. “So, if you switch it on, you have a first phase where you go up to the required temperature and then it’s stabilised. “But to keep the temperature at the level you want, you need to use energy. So, that’s the point.”
