Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff has questioned why Formula 1 is keen to get rid of tyre blankets for the sake of entertainment.
Next month, a vote will take place that will decide if the blankets remain in the sport for 2024 and beyond.
A number of F1 drivers have questioned the potential move, with George Russell insisting that it would cause crashes and create dangers for personnel in the pit lane.
Pirelli’s F1 tyres are notorious for being sensitive to temperature and require a specific operating window to generate grip.
Ahead of the crunch vote in July, Wolff stated that he wouldn’t vote in favour of ridding F1 of the tyre blankets.
“I think taking let’s say team-specific thoughts out of it, at the end, we want a good show, and we need to listen to the drivers,” he said.
“And not maybe to one, but to everyone, and see what their opinion is on tyres without warmers.
“I tend to agree with the drivers that why we’re making experiments that could potentially create a safety hazard. We’ve seen back how wrong that can go at Spa.
“So what is that we want to achieve? Is it that we, like, not spending energy on tire heaters for wet tires that we don’t use at all during the year, very little only?
“Yeah. Risk and reward, my understanding in my life is that risk and reward need to be well-measured, and I don’t think there is a great reward on making experiments in Formula 1 cars with drivers in there for the fun of it.”
When asked how he will vote on the day, Wolff said: “I’m going to vote on tyres on what my drivers tell me.
“Mick [Schumacher], Lewis [Hamilton] and George, whatever their opinion will be on how I should vote on tyre warmers.”
And at the time of speaking to the media, Schumacher was near Wolff and nodded when Wolff asked if tyre warmers should still be used in 2024.
Schumacher drove the tyres without blankets at a test in Barcelona following the Spanish Grand Prix.
Wolff then quipped: “So you know how I’m going to vote.”
