For the start of the 2022 season, the maximum temperature tires can be heated to before being put on cars has been reduced to 70 degrees Celsius.
Until last year, the front wheels could be heated to 100°C, while the rear wheels could be heated to 80°C.
The change in temperature has caused some warm-up problems for the drivers coming out of the pits, and in races it has made the undercut less effective, as the rubber doesn’t immediately get up to full speed in the first few corners.
But the drivers’ headaches could increase much more in the kind of mixed conditions expected for the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.
Choosing the right time to switch from intermediate to slick (dry) tires can be especially tricky, as dry tires may not reach proper operating temperatures when the weather is still slightly damp.
And if drivers miss the perfect window and can’t get the tires warm enough, then their tire set can be completely out of its operating window and not get up to speed.
Williams car performance boss Dave Robson says Friday’s wet and dry qualifying session has already put drivers on notice.
“It was the first time we had really raced on slicks in conditions like this, and the general temperatures of 70C made that phase more difficult,” he explained. “There is much less room for error.”
“If it rains [in the race] and you bet and put the dry too early, then you can spiral into misery much faster than in previous years, when you at least had a sporting opportunity there. It can be difficult to hit the exact moment and it is very different from previous years.
Robson says it could take several laps to warm up the tyres, and he thinks that in qualifying the cold tires coming out of the pits could have been the cause of so many spins.
Asked if there was a link between the number of incidents and lower temperatures, Robson said: “I think so, because the conditions really weren’t that bad.”
“Even when it rained again in Q2, it wasn’t conditions that you would normally think of as difficult, so I think that must have played a role.”
“I can’t speak for anyone else, but if you see the Sainz thing, he got out and that wouldn’t have happened before. It certainly becomes more difficult.”
He added: “You really have to be confident when you come out of the pitlane on slicks in those conditions, because the difference between going into the positive spiral and the spiral out of misery is huge.”
“If you can’t get out there and squeeze right away, and you start to lose temperature instead of increasing it, it’s almost unrecoverable.”
