Pirelli has warned Formula 1 bosses that it will go ultra-conservative next season unless the rules are changed to specifically request certain tyre durability.
When the Italian supplier joined F1 three years ago, it was asked to make tyres which wouldn’t last more than a third of the race to force drivers into making more than one stop.
However that was a verbal request, not a written rule, which Pirelli believes is partly to blame for the criticism they’ve taken.
Pirelli wants the rules to be amended to define what is required of them, or for F1 to impose a minimum two-stop rule, otherwise they will deliver ultra-conservative tyres which will last half a race or more.
“We want a clear input and it to be clearly defined [in the rules], because the characteristic [of criticism] this year is that people have maybe forgotten what we were asked to do,” said motorsport boss Paul Hembery.
“That has got lost somewhere in the passage of time, and that is the important thing that we want to make sure is resolved. Somebody needs to tell us what they want [us] to do.”
Pirelli chairman Marco Tronchetti Provera has asked Bernie Ecclestone to implement a two-stop rule, which would mean conservative tyres could be used without the threat of single-stop races, but it’s understood the idea doesn’t have much support amongst the teams.
When asked what would happen if such a rule isn’t implemented, Hembery replied: “I guess what will happen is that we will take a very cautious approach and we will end up with one stop [races] after this year.”
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