Has F1’s tyre mandate reached the end of the line?

You’d forgive Lewis Hamilton for wincing 
any time he hears the words ‘Pirelli’ and ‘Silverstone’ uttered in the same breath. His attempt to convert pole into a home victory
 during his maiden Mercedes campaign in 2013 was scuppered by his left-rear tyre exploding. Seven years later he crossed the line to land his seventh British Grand Prix triumph, albeit with the front-left rubber in tatters. 

But he shouldn’t face another similarly sticky situation this month. Pirelli will use the trip to Northamptonshire to introduce a new construction which has most recently been tested in Barcelona. Concerned by increasing downforce levels and cornering loads, the tyre maker has fast-tracked a specification originally intended for 2024. The bumf says compounds and profiles will stay the same, but the material will be even more resistant to fatigue. 

Pirelli motorsport director Mario Isola tells GP Racing: “We wanted to give teams a construction which was transparent. If you compare it with the current one, it is just more resistant because of the material we want to introduce into the construction. We collected feedback from the teams [after testing of the prototype] and most of them said it was ‘no change’ or ‘no difference’.”

By virtue of the tyres being more robust, Hamilton and his peers are less likely to pay tribute to The New Christy Minstrels by finishing with only three wheels on their wagons. However, that also means there’s little to suggest the British GP will buck the trend of 2023 and its largely tepid racing.

Too much of this season has been dictated by drivers backing off from the car ahead to bring down tyre temperatures. That’s different to Pirelli’s original brief. When it entered Formula 1 in 2011, there was the hope of developing a tyre that would deteriorate markedly to pave the way for diverging strategies and thrilling contests, like that of the 2010 Canadian Grand Prix.

The first round of rubber did indeed have all the resilience of a chocolate teapot. Now, though, it’s thermal management rather than true degradation that has become the limiting factor.

Hamilton landed his seventh British Grand Prix triumph with the front-left rubber in tatters

Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images

That’s why after the cut and thrust of the first few laps, drivers very soon separate by two-second intervals as they ease off and find cooler air. This prevents overtaking, whether it’s a cheap DRS manoeuvre or a prolonged wheel-to-wheel dice.

Arguably, even worse, it hurts any potential for an overtake. Drivers don’t necessarily have to be trading places ad nauseam but too often now, they’re not
 even in the same camera frame. 

Esteban Ocon demonstrated another problem with the current rubber in Azerbaijan. He started on a set of hards and nursed them to the final lap before making his mandatory stop to avoid disqualification. The only drama for Ocon was having to steer around a gaggle of photographers who were released early into a still-live pitlane. 

Drivers don’t necessarily have to be trading places ad nauseam but too often now, they’re not
 even in the same camera frame

It seems the cycle is nearing completion. For it was this kind of tedious durability from the old Bridgestones that detracted from the spectacle sufficiently to prompt F1 to ask Pirelli to deliberately design in some fallibility. The irony is that this time, it’s Bridgestone that has just made a bid to the FIA to challenge its Italian rival in the 2025 tyre-tender process. 

Worth six times as much as Pirelli (£24billion plays £4bn), Bridgestone could truly dedicate the resource required to fulfil the inevitable ‘Goldilocks’ design brief: tyres that are resistant enough to allow drivers to push, aren’t so sensitive to temperature to dash all hopes of overtaking, yet still degrade to keep the strategists on their toes.

Could Bridgestone re-enter the fold and deliver more racing like the Canada 2010 prototype brief for Pirelli?

Photo by: Glenn Dunbar / Motorsport Images