During a wet second practice session at the Japanese GP, there was little driving on the track. The weather conditions may have suggested that it was too wet and dangerous to drive, but the real cause of the lack of action was a revision in the tire regulations that were implemented this year. The intention was to optimize tire use, but in Suzuka, it had the opposite effect, leaving fans disappointed.
Looking back at last year, each driver was provided with four sets of intermediate tires and three sets of full wet tires for a race weekend. There was even an extra set of intermediate tires available on Friday, but this extra set has been eliminated for this season.
For this year, each driver gets five sets of intermediate tires and two sets of full wet tires for a race weekend. With fewer sets available compared to last year, teams were cautious about sending their drivers out on track during the moderately wet second practice session.
This cautious approach led to a session where very little action took place. The drivers remained in the garage, waiting for the track to dry up sufficiently for slick tires, leaving fans with minimal excitement and entertainment.
Lewis Hamilton pointed out how these regulations resulted in an unproductive session.
It was a forgettable session where nobody ventured out onto the track, which doesn’t seem to make sense, but unfortunately, that was the reality. The tire regulation changes have not had the desired effect.
Pirelli, acknowledging the inadequacies of F1’s revised system, has requested urgent discussions with the FIA and F1 teams to explore a new rule change. The aim is to avoid a repeat of Friday’s lackluster session and to ensure more engaging practice sessions in the future, particularly in challenging conditions.
This rule change, which has been approved by all teams in conjunction with the FIA and F1, is explained by Pirelli’s chief engineer, Simone Berra. With one set less per driver available during a race weekend, especially on a circuit with high tire degradation like Suzuka, teams are extra cautious about tire usage, particularly if rain is expected later in the weekend.
We will continue discussing this with the FIA and the teams to find a way to optimize these regulations during practice sessions and revisit our approach, Berra emphasized.
One potential solution could be to mandate the surrender of a set of intermediate tires if a session is declared wet. This would discourage teams from hoarding tires and encourage more on-track action, Berra suggested.
Written by Vincent Bogaerts