F1 News: Fernando Alonso Insists Pirelli Must Improve Wet Tires – ‘Always Accidents’

Following in the footsteps of Lewis Hamilton, a seven-time world champion, the driver of a ston Martin, Fernando Alonso, has called out Pirelli, the company that supplies tires for Formula One, for producing wet weather tires that cause “accidents.” Over the course of the previous weekend, the Spaniard was subjected to a difficult and excruciating Sao Paulo Grand Prix, which was marked by a number of yellow flags and one red flag during the wet race.

As a result of the heavy rain that occurred on Saturday, the sport made the decision to reschedule the qualifying session that was scheduled for Saturday to take place on Sunday. This resulted in a separation of a few hours between the qualifying session and the Grand Prix round. On that particular occasion, Hamilton voiced his dissatisfaction to the CEO of Formula One on live television, stating that the qualifying session would have been a success if the sport had provided them with better tires. As he stated on F1TV:

It was your responsibility to send us out. We ought to leave the house because this is absurd. My desire is to go out.

We would be able to run in this if you provided us with better wet tires that were covered in blankets.

Adding in jest, he said:

I am putting you in a difficult situation!

Alonso came to the conclusion that the wet tires manufactured by Pirelli do not fulfil the requirements for the “top class” category. He cited the fact that these tires are prone to aquaplaning and to causing accidents. The driver, who is 43 years old, was quoted as saying the following to DAZN, as reported by PlanetF1.

In addition to the fact that the conditions were not ideal, we do not possess the tires that are necessary for the top class category of the sport.

Every time it rains even a little bit, we always have the problem of aquaplaning, and there are always accidents… Aside from the fact that Franco [Colapinto] was even behind the safety car… On occasion, it is even impossible to keep up with the safety car. The situation needs to be improved.”

Thankfully, Pirelli has acknowledged the poor performance of the wet tires and has been working on an improved version for the 2025 season. This will be completed in the near future. The following is what Mario Isola, the Head of Motorsport for Pirelli, said to Autosport, as reported by PlanetF1:

When it comes to generating a proper crossover with the intermediate, it is true that we need to improve the performance of the wet tyre.

“We have that as our goal.

“Unfortunately, we were unable to conduct a thorough test with the wet tyre on a circuit with a high degree of difficulty. As a result, we will be releasing a new wet tyre with a few minor adjustments the following year. That is precisely what we fail to notice.

In addition to working on the construction and developing a new compound, we made some minor adjustments to the tread pattern. We discovered a way to make things better. “I am unable to tell you whether or not it is sufficient.”

On the other hand, Isola explained that the FIA race director Niels Wittich’s decision to postpone qualifying was due to other factors, as the tires that were currently available were still capable of handling wet conditions. He went on to say:

I have no idea why Niels made the decision to not give the session the go-ahead; I am not sure if it was due to the visibility, the presence of standing water, the possibility of aquaplaning, or any other factor. Niels and I did not communicate, so I do not have any information regarding that.

If performance is the only thing that matters [on the wet tyre], then it simply means that they travel at a slower speed. As a result, the slowest car that is also the fastest is producing the best time.

Every one of us is well aware of the fact that we need to enhance the performance of the wet tyre. Nevertheless, you are able to run on these wet tires; it is not that you are unable to run.