30/07/2023
NEWS STORY
Drivers cite the immediate switch to Inters during the Sprint as proof that the current full wets are not fit for purpose.
When the Sprint finally got underway, it was clear that the drivers would want to shed their blue-banded rubber for the green version as soon as possible and sure enough when Berndt Maylander pulled into the pitlane ten drivers followed him, with the remaining ten pitting at the end of the next lap.
The rules are that when a race starts behind the Safety Car in the wet, full wet tyres must be used, however the urgency with which the drivers switched to Inters after the numerous formation laps wasn't so much about the improving conditions but the desire to shed them as soon as possible.
"The extreme tyre is really, really bad," said George Russell. "It is six-seven seconds slower than the intermediate, and the only reason you would ever run it is if you aquaplane on the intermediate. So that needs to be substantially improved.
"I remember watching the old onboard videos of 2007 with Massa and Kubica in Fuji," he said. "So much water and still able to push flat out. I remember doing test days here in F3 on Michelins and Hankooks and aquaplaning wasn't really as thing.
"I appreciate we are doing over 200 mph and it's not straightforward, but there need to be some significant improvements."
"There's some work that needs to be done," agreed Charles Leclerc, "because we've got extreme tyres that are really slow, but really good for avoiding aquaplaning, but we never drive in those conditions because of visibility.
"So whenever it's driveable, we need to go on inters," he continued. "It's quite tricky at the moment. I think the extreme should be faster and closer to the inters so we run more on the extreme than the inters, basically."
"We already found an improvement with this wet compared to the old one," said Pirelli Motorsport boss, Mario Isola, "but we still miss a little bit of performance to have the right crossover with the intermediate."
Meanwhile, the drivers were full of praise for the way in which officials handled the situation followings the warnings that were given ahead of the weekend.
"I think they did a good job under the circumstances," said Russell. "It's very challenging, there's still incredibly dangerous conditions. You are doing 300 kilometres an hour on the straight, and you can't see 50 metres in front of you.
"It seems particularly bad at this circuit," he added. "I don't know if it's the humidity, or the trees or what, but the spray just doesn't seem to disperse. And it's like you're driving into a cloud."
The Briton, who is a director of the Grand Prix Drivers' Association, believes that as opposed to running behind the Safety Car in such conditions, the field should run at its own speed whilst not actually racing.
"I felt like those four laps under the safety car didn't really give us a lot," he said. "It was the same I think in Japan, we were doing lots of laps under the safety car and it didn't really improve things.
"So maybe a solution for the future is if they allow us to do two, three, four laps at full racing speed and then bring the safety car out to neutralise the pack, and go again, because after two laps of racing things were much better."
"I couldn't even see the safety car sometimes and I am the first car," said Sprint winner Max Verstappen. "So if we really want good visibility we can't do a race in the wet.
"It has become worse since when I started in F1. It is because of the wider tyres and the ground effect cars. But in the junior categories, it was also quite tough, the visibility was very bad.
"We had these accidents happen over the years. That is always the unfortunate thing, something bad needs to happen before it really gets looked at. But I remember races in F3 when I couldn't see anything when you raced in the pack."
"I couldn't see a thing," admitted Pierre Gasly, who finished third. "If Oscar and Max were in the middle of the straight, I would be straight into the side of them. I couldn't even see 10-20 metres ahead of me. You are just hoping for the best.
"I didn't feel safe when they restarted," he admitted. "I was really hoping no guy gets off the track or collides and gets stuck in the straight.
"It is not really a question of track conditions, because the conditions were raceable from the first lap, but the problem is the spray is so huge out of these cars and the water just stays in the air. I was in sixth and I can only imagine how bad it was at the back of the pack. I wanted to box anyway for inters, but this just added another incentive to box, to just get some visibility.
"You want to race but at the same time, I'm glad everything went safely today but all you need is one guy to be stopped in the straight and it can go wrong very quickly."
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