The FIA prohibits teams from doing more than 18 laps per tire in view of the race

The FIA was waiting to know more in order to recommend or not a limit of laps per set of tyres used in racing. However, the sprint race being truncated by several safety cars, the Pirelli engineers could not really observe the impact on the tires.

The FIA’s press release explains that « due to the frequency of the safety car’s interventions during yesterday’s Sprint, the tire data available for analysis by Pirelli was insufficient to be added to those already undertaken during previous track sessions. »

If Pirelli has indeed noticed problems « As was the case during the free trials », the FIA asserts that « this problem was probably caused by the too high number of times the tire is in contact with the 50 mm “pyramidal” curbs. »

Without additional data, the FIA therefore decides to impose a restriction on the use of tires. All compounds are affected. Thus, drivers will have to change their tires as soon as they reach 18 laps, at most.

The Grand Prix consisting of 57 laps, this means that depending on the strategies, the drivers will have to enter the pits at least three times but could enter even more during this race of the Grand Prix of Qatar since the laps already completed on trains will be taken into account.

The following measures are detailed by the FIA:

– A mandatory limit of 18 laps of total tire life per set will be enforced.

– The lifespan of the already used tires will be taken into consideration.

– The FIA and Pirelli will communicate to the teams the remaining available laps for each set of used tires at their disposal for the race and the criteria used to calculate this number.

– There is no direct obligation to make at least three pit stops depending on the contingencies in the race (shortened race, safety car…).

Please note that « Any car considered to have exceeded the lifespan limit of tire rotations will be reported to the sports commissioners as having driven under dangerous conditions. »