Why F1’s Tire Blankets Will Soon Be Old News With Game-Changing Ban

What was coming into action for several years now could be put in place, finally, in 2024. The much-talked-about tire blankets could be a past accessory in the coming years as there are repeated efforts to prohibit them. The tire blankets have been an integral part of F1 since the 1980s and are continuing to be one to date.

The 2022 season is just halfway, and there are still one and a half seasons to go for 2024. Even though there can be a drop in the idea of a tire blanket ban, that seems very unlikely. However, Pirelli, the tire provider in the sport, is yet to reveal big updates on it.

Even though there has been a little progress on Pirelli’s side. The reduction in tire blanket temperature was down to 70°C from last year’s maximum of 100°C (front) and 80°C (rear). A further 20°C down to an eventual 50°C is on the cards.

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In a report published by The Race, Pirelli’s Head of F1 Mario Isola stated, “It was our request to do that step-by-step because it [the tire warmer ban] is a big change for the construction and the compound.”

“There is a common idea that we just need to design different compounds and everything is fixed. It’s not like that, because with these cars and their performance, we estimate an increase in pressure from cold to hot that could be more than 12psi. And that makes the footprint completely different.” the Pirelli boss further asserted.

Usage of tire blankets

Usually, there are two main reasons for which the tires are covered in an F1 car. They are for technical as well as for strategic reasons. Talking about the strategic one, tires are usually covered to hide the specific tires used by that team from the rival teams.

Whereas, for the technical one, tire covers are used to maintain an optimal tire temperature. These covers help the tires to have the required temperature needed on a particular track and to have maximum efficiency.

The tire blankets are usually made with insulation material and house electric heating elements. These covers have internal technologies that help to keep the tires warm before the final push for qualification, or for races to start as the warmer the tire, the better the grip.

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Moreover, there’s another use of the tire blankets in F1 and that relates to the pressure of the tires. In general, the tires in F1 cars lose or gain a certain amount in every change in tire temperature. This, in turn, will lower or higher the car to some extent. The higher the temperature, the higher the pressure, meaning the driver has an elevated ride.

Previous efforts to ban F1 tire blankets

Talking about recent years, there were two prominent times when the talks about banning tire covers were paramount. Firstly, in 2015, followed by 2019.

In the year 2015, there were serious talks to ban the blankets for cost reasons. However, safety reasons prohibited the teams to abandon the tire covers back then. The next and the most recent was in 2019. A report published by Autosport in 2019 stated that the governing body and F1 teams have decided to keep going with the fire blankets for the time being.

Moreover, there were a couple of new regulations already upcoming in 2022, including the new 18-inch tire. Hence, the new challenge to continue without tire covers would be too much for teams to cope with. On top of that, Pirelli has also pushed to keep them to make the transition to the new size easier and to aid tire development.

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All in all, it’ll be interesting to see if F1 decides to ban the tire blankets for the 2024 season or after that. It’ll also be a thing to see how teams cover up their tire strategies and compounds in the coming days once these covers are out of use. Only time will tell.