F1 drivers told to change driving style amid 2024 tyre safety concerns

F1 wants to remove tyre warmers from the sport on sustainability grounds but official sign off on the ban is pending further testing and a vote from the teams. 

After participating in Pirelli’s most recent tyre test at Barcelona, Mercedes driver George Russell warned: “I don’t think we as a sport are at a position to bring these tyres into a racing scenario”.

But Russell’s concerns have been rejected by Pirelli, who have suggested that drivers will need to adapt their driving styles. 

“Obviously drivers need to think about the fact that not using the blankets is different than today, so they need to approach the out-lap in a different way,” Pirelli engineer Simone Berra said. 

“In cold conditions, it could be trickier to bring the tyres up to temperature but it’s just a matter of doing the first portion of the lap [cautiously].

“In the first sector, generally we can see much more difference compared to other sectors because already sector 2 and 3 are in line with the laptimes with the blankets, so it’s just a matter of managing the first few corners.

“But in terms of safety, I don’t see from the data any specific risk.

“You need to change the way you are driving in the first lap, you have to adapt the driving style to protect the tyres because you can generate graining if you push too much in the first corners and the tyres are not up to temperature.

“I respect driver opinion, that’s for sure, but obviously there will be differences compared to the old product and the [current] tyre management.”