Verstappen backs postponed tyre blanket ban

Jul.29 (GMM) Formula 1 has called off the planned banning of tyre-warming blankets for 2024.

Ahead of Friday’s decisive F1 Commission meeting at Spa-Francorchamps, world champion Max Verstappen was among the drivers arguing against the ban.

“People don’t understand how hard it is to even drive a car out of the pitlane with 1000 horsepower,” said the Red Bull driver.

He also argued against the sustainability reasoning for the ban, arguing that tyre blankets use less overall power than “the air conditioners in the paddock”.

Verstappen said the ban would also hurt the racing, describing the prospect of one car with cold tyres out of the pits trying to race another car with warm tyres as “stupid”.

And so, the F1 Commission decided on Friday to postpone the tyre blanket ban for a year, even though the FIA insisted that recent testing of 2024 development Pirelli tyres showed that it could have been achieved.

“I think it’s just too early in the process,” said Red Bull team boss Christian Horner, supporting the delay.

“We did a test recently with Pirelli and while I think they’ve made good progress, there was a collective decision that it’s not quite ready for 2024.”