For more than two years, Formula 1 has been preparing a radical rule change in 2021 aimed at making the racing closer.
Last month, a $175m (£141m) budget cap was secured and it was agreed to delay the finalisation of sporting and technical rules until October.
But suddenly, the sands have shifted, and what had appeared to be a refinement process around a generally agreed package now looks anything but.
Over the British Grand Prix weekend, FIA president Jean Todt revealed that the return of refuelling was on the agenda. And a series of other senior figures said that, for the first time, a major focus had shifted on to tyres.
Now, many find tyres boring. And that’s not just you, dear reader. A good proportion of the F1 media feel the same way.
But bear with me, because we are going to delve into the very heart of the debate over the future of F1.
Many people in F1 feel that the Pirelli tyres are perhaps the single biggest reason why drivers struggle to race hard and close.
Prime among those are the drivers themselves. After years of trying to change things behind the scenes, they have stepped things up a gear and are subtly exerting pressure, both with public utterances and in private meetings. And it seems to be paying off.
F1’s bosses – particularly managing director Ross Brawn – have until recently brushed off questions about the tyres being a major concern. But things are changing.
From apparently not listening, sources say F1 and the FIA have now woken up to this being a serious issue.
Todt, for example, has refused for years to admit publicly that there was an issue with the tyres. But at Silverstone he described the right tyres as “essential”, and emphasised the need for the FIA, F1 and Pirelli to work together to make it happen.
And with this, all of a sudden, have arisen all manner of questions about the 2021 rules. Including even whether some of the bigger changes planned might not happen at all.
There are a number of factors as to why F1 drivers find it so hard to overtake. One is aerodynamics – a car following another encounters disturbed air, which means that it creates less downforce, produces less grip and therefore cannot go as fast in the corners.
But another big influence is tyres, especially when they behave in the way the Pirellis do.
The tyres used in F1 only work in a narrow temperature range, and they are much more prone to overheating when worked hard than previous tyres supplied by other companies. When they overheat, they lose grip and the driver has to fall back to cool them down again. And this happens
very quickly, so typically a driver has only a lap or two in ‘dirty air’ before suffering this problem.
Pirelli has worked on improving this for 2019 – and has succeeded to a degree. But the fundamental characteristic remains.
A month or so ago, Red Bull were leading a campaign for F1 to reintroduce the tyres used in 2018, because they felt the new 2019 tyres, which have a shallower tread depth and are harder to get up to temperature, were favouring Mercedes, who have dominated the first half of the season.
But a change required 70% of the teams to agree, and when they voted at the Austrian Grand Prix last month, they were split 50-50.
That was that, in terms of the attempt to change tyres this season. But it has highlighted an area of concern for some teams in that Pirelli decides on its own the specification of tyres for a championship season – and once it has, any change requires that 70% agreement, or an intervention by
the FIA on safety grounds.
Some teams feel this is wrong – especially because they fear the consequences of individual teams having undue political influence on Pirelli – and want a greater role in the process in the future.
Ferrari team boss Mattia Binotto said: “The process itself may need to be improved because we have no voice on the tyre specification for the season. The only voice we may have is by majority to change them. In there is something that together with the FIA we need to think about.”
Pirelli says it is prepared to change the tyres if that is what F1 decides it wants.
Its motorsport boss Mario Isola said: “We are happy as always, since day one, to supply tyres that are in line with the targets that F1 decides, provided they are achievable, provided safety is and continues to be the priority.”
But he does not agree they are the primary issue.
“We should consider all the package,” he said, “which is important, because there is a lot of discussion on the aero package and how it affects the car that is following so the car behind is losing downforce, which means less performance.
“This is irrespective of whether the tyres have degradation or not. If you have less downforce, you lose performance.”
