Lewis Hamilton believes that better quality wet tyres would have allowed qualifying to take place at a rain-drenched Interlagos on Saturday, putting Pirelli’s product under scrutiny.
As Formula 1 CEO Stefano Domenicali apologized to fans for qualifying’s postponement while speaking to F1 TVinsisting that running “in these conditions is impossible”, Hamilton interrupted the interview to facetiously confront the Italian.
“You should’ve sent us out, this is ridiculous, we should go out!” Hamilton told Domenicali, adding “If you give us better wet tyres or blankets we’d be able to run in this. I’m putting you on the spot right now.”
It was a playful intervention by the seven-time world champion which ended with a big hug between the two men, but Pirelli has nevertheless responded to the moment.
Formula 1’s tyre supplier has often have been criticized for the limited efficiency of its wet weather product, to the point where its intermediate compound has often proven more suitable in wet conditions.
Pirelli acknowledges the need for improvement and is working on developing a better wet tyre for next year. However, the lack of testing data from has hindered its development efforts.
“It is true that we need to improve the performance of the wet tyre to generate a proper crossover with the intermediate,” said Pirelli motorsport’s boss Mario Isola, quoted by Motorsport.com.
“That’s our target. Next year we will have a new wet tyre with some small modifications, because unfortunately we didn’t have the possibility to have a proper test with the wet tyre on a high severity circuit. That is exactly what we miss.
“We changed a little bit the tread pattern, worked on the construction and on a new compound. We found an improvement. I cannot tell you if it is enough or not.”
Regarding F1 race director Niels Wittich’s decision to call off Saturday’s qualifying session, Isola suggested that other safety factors, rather than Pirelli’s tyre performance, likely influenced the outcome.
“I don’t know why Niels decided not to give it the green light to the session, I don’t know if it is because of visibility, standing water, risk of aquaplaning, or any other element,” added Isola.
“I didn’t speak to Niels, so I have no information on that.
“If it’s just performance [on the wet tyre]it means that they go slower, that’s all. So the fastest of the slow cars is setting the best time.
“We are fully aware we have to improve the performance of the wet tyre. But you can run on these wet tyres, it’s not that you cannot run.”
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