PIRELLI RESPONDED TO HAMILTON’S COMPLAINT ABOUT RAIN TIRES

Pirelli responded to Lewis Hamilton’s request to provide better rain tires after the Brazilian Grand Prix qualifying lap had to be postponed due to adverse weather conditions.
The qualifying laps in Sao Paulo were first postponed, then postponed to Sunday morning after the severe downpours and thunderstorm that caused poaking in various parts of the runway.
Formula 1 CEO Stefano Domenicali apologised for the delay to the fans, hoping they would understand that “it is impossible to compete under these conditions.”
Speaking to F1 TV, Domenicali’s words were interrupted by Lewis Hamilton, and Hamilton asked F1 CEO to offer better wet floor tires and bring back the use of a tire blanket that was removed last year for tyres with the blue logo.
Hamilton said to Domenicali in a friendly and playful manner, “You should have sent us to the track, it’s ridiculous!”
“If you had given us better wet floor tires or blankets, we could have gone to this session,” he said.
The usefulness of Pirelli’s rain tires has long been a subject of debate among F1 pilots. Since the transition tires with the green logo show higher performance, Pirelli’s rain tires are generally preferred in extreme conditions where it is already difficult for vehicles to get on the track.
Pirelli’s motorsports chief Mario Isola acknowledged that they should improve their rain-tire performance and said improvements are underway for the coming year. However, he explained that the rain tire test data for the most challenging tracks to take bigger steps is missing and these tests are much more difficult to organize.
Isola said, “It is true that we need to improve the performance of the rain tire. That’s our goal. Next year, we will have a new rain tire with small changes. Unfortunately, we did not have the opportunity to do the right test with a rain tire on a track with a high difficulty level. That’s exactly what we feel lacking,” he said.
Stating that they are working on a new dough and tire structure, Isola stated that they have made an improvement, but they cannot say for sure yet whether this is enough.
Isola also stated that FIA race director Niels Wittich could not speak about his decision to cancel the qualifyings on Saturday, but there were probably other safety factors behind this decision rather than the performance of the Pirelli tires, and added:
“If it only comes to performance in rain tires, it means they will go slower, that’s all. So the fastest of slow vehicles makes the best time.”

We are fully aware that we need to improve the performance of the rain tire. However, there is no such thing as you can compete with these tires, you cannot compete.”
As part of Pirelli’s wet floor tire development program, Mercedes participated in a test at Magny-Cours last month. While Mick Schumacher and George Russell took part in the test, Hamilton did not participate in the test.
On the first day of the test, the backup driver Schumacher was only able to take 29 laps because the track was too wet for a meaningful study.
Other options for testing Pirelli’s wet floor doughs are to go to Fiorano or Paul Ricard, the two tracks with sprinklers to soak the track surface.