Formula 1 drivers preparing for a likely wet Canadian Grand Prix say their biggest worry is not the power units but the tyres.
After two days of mostly warm, dry weather, persistent light rain is forecast for Sunday at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. Drivers have limited experience of how this new generation of cars behaves in wet conditions, and every official track session this season has been dry—apart from a brief shower in Miami when everyone remained on slick tyres.
Although a few drivers have tested the cars in the wet, Miami demonstrated how quickly the cars can become difficult to control in low-grip situations, with spins from the likes of Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc. Despite that, most drivers say the primary concern is tyre performance in the wet rather than engine power delivery.
“I think it could be an insanely tricky race,” said Lando Norris. “It’s difficult enough to get temperature into a soft tyre, let alone when it’s 10 degrees colder tomorrow and we’re going to have inters and wets on the car.”
Pole-sitter George Russell noted the FIA’s recent reduction in battery power delivery—from 350 kilowatts to 250 kilowatts—should help make the cars easier to manage in low-grip conditions. Even so, he believes tyres will be the main challenge when ambient temperatures could be no higher than 13°C.
“It’s still hundreds and hundreds of horsepower under our right foot,” Russell said, “but what everybody is alluding to is just the tyres. That’s going to be the biggest challenge. These tyres only seem to work when they have sufficient temperature within them and with only 12, 13 degrees ambient tomorrow, it’s going to be really challenging to get that rubber softened to give us the grip.”
Russell added: “But the truth is, it’s the same for everyone. It’s going to be risky. It’s going to be challenging. It probably isn’t going to be very pleasant, but it’s part of the game and I’m excited for that challenge.”
Andrea Kimi Antonelli pointed out that Montreal is already one of the tougher circuits for keeping tyre temperatures up.
“We tried the tyre last year and it was not the nicest,” he said. “There were a few aquaplaning moments, so it’s tricky. This is already a track where it’s hard to put temperature on the tyres in the dry. Tomorrow is going to be cold and wet and it’s going to be hard to build temperature, which is the main thing for us, because once you get temperature, it’s actually not too bad.”
He added that the opening laps will be particularly difficult: “But it’s those first few laps where you’re just sliding around and the tyre is not really working. It’s not easy, it’s going to be tricky, but let’s see first what the weather is going to be like, because also in Miami it was meant to rain and it didn’t.”
If the track is wet for the race, teams will face additional limitations on using the cars’ adjustable wings. Drivers will be allowed to reduce wing angle at only three points on the circuit instead of four. The Straight Mode zone approaching the turn four hairpin will be deactivated, and the remaining three zones will be shortened.
Across the paddock, the focus is on tyre management: keeping rubber in the right temperature window, avoiding aquaplaning, and negotiating the unpredictable conditions a wet race brings. With experience of these new cars in the wet limited, teams and drivers will need to adapt quickly if the forecast rain arrives, balancing risk and reward while fighting for grip on a circuit that already makes tyre heating difficult in dry conditions.
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