Due to a sudden heavy rain, the sprint race of the 2023 Belgian Grand Prix was postponed. Subsequently, the safety car guided the competitors for five laps in formation before commencing a rolling start.
The train of safety cars assisted in removing the accumulated water to reduce the amount of spray and improve visibility. However, all vehicles entered the pit within two laps to change to intermediate tires as the weather conditions had transitioned to wet.
Drivers considered the blue-walled full-wet construction to be useful only as “safety car tyres”. Mercedes’ George Russell expressed his opinion that they were “rather pointless”.
Mario Isola, the head of motorsport at Pirelli, unexpectedly supported the drivers’ perspective. He believed that if the FIA prioritized safety by being cautious in situations with limited visibility, it would always result in the use of full wet tires behind the safety car.
“I think we need to address two separate issues: the wet performance and the visibility problem [due to driver complaints].”
In terms of performance, during the tire development process, we discovered a significant improvement [five seconds per lap] compared to the previous wet tire.
“I cannot reword.”
Perhaps this level of performance is still insufficient to produce the desired interaction with intermediates…
He stated, “Do the tires on the safety car provide adequate visibility? We have had numerous discussions regarding this matter. It is a concern, and it is evident that the FIA, in collaboration with the teams, is exploring certain devices [spray guards] that can enhance visibility and minimize the spray emitted by the tires and diffuser.”
Kevin Magnussen, Haas VF-23,Nico Hulkenberg, Haas VF-23,Sergio Perez, Red Bull Racing RB19
Photo by: Erik Junius
“If the idea is to continue to look for a device that is able to reduce the spray and therefore give [drivers] the possibility to run in full-wet conditions, we have to keep the two products [inters and full wets].
“But if the full wet tyre is used only behind the safety car, I agree with drivers that, at the moment, it is a useless tyre.
We need to determine the path we wish to pursue in order to create the necessary product for Formula 1 in the future.
Isola has proposed the development of a ‘super intermediate’ or ‘intermediate plus’ compound that could be introduced sometime during the 2024 season as a solution.
This single construction, the tread of which Pirelli designed several years ago, would be used to span the crossover between when the FIA rule visibility is too limited and dry tyres.
As a by-product of a single catch-all compound, it would help Pirelli reduce its cargo to improve sustainability – an issue that motivated the recent Alternative Tyre Allocation qualifying experiment in Hungary and the suspended ban on the use of tyre blankets.
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