(Reuters) – Banning tyre blankets in Formula One from 2024 would be dangerous and a pointless exercise, seven times world champion Lewis Hamilton said on Saturday.
The warmers provide immediate grip and performance but getting rid of them appeals for reasons of cost and sustainability.
The governing FIA said this week that new wet weather tyres that did not need blankets would be introduced from Imola in May.
Pirelli’s F1 head Mario Isola told motorsport.com during testing in Bahrain that plans to ban blankets entirely next year could be put to a vote after tests following the British Grand Prix in July.
Mercedes driver Hamilton told reporters the sport could be making a wrong move.
“I think it’s dangerous,” said the Briton.
“I’ve tested the no-blankets and there’s going to be an incident at some stage. So on a safety factor I think it’s the wrong decision.
“Also you have to drive multiple laps to get the tyres to work and the whole argument is that taking away the blankets is for going more sustainable, more green. In actual fact we’re just using more fuel to get temperature into tyres.”
Hamilton said a car with unheated tyres would be very twitchy, skating around on the surface.
“If there is someone else who is on tyres that are working, you could easily collide with them,” added Hamilton. “It’s a pointless exercise.”
Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz said he had tested the full wet tyres without blankets and they were “actually not too bad…if anything they were faster than the normal wets.”
(Reporting by Alan Baldwin in London, Editing by Hugh Lawson)
