The chaos that occurred at the second restart of the Melbourne Grand Prix, according to what reported by Lando Norris, he would only one culprit: Pirelli tyres.
Norris points the finger at Pirelli
The negative outcome of tests in Bahrain it proved to be, for McLaren, just a taste of what would later happen with the start of the championship. After double zero totaled in the first two races of 2023, Norris and Piastri they managed to complete an arduous undertaking: bringing the MCL60 into the points zone. However, the sixth position obtained in Melbourne, thanks to what happened in turn 1, did not bring a smile back to the British driver's face.
"Had there been grip, I think we would have had one private race of all that chaos", Norris told the press. The #4 points the finger at Pirelli: "Tire decision makers they know little of what then happens inside the single-seater. We had mounted the soft rubbers at 65° C and I can't describe how little grip we had on the track. The temperature is not wrong, but on this surface e at this temperature, grip was really poor”.
Reopened the issue of electric blankets
“Everyone was going straight into Turn 1 and had lockups. The absence of adherence leads you to brake much earlier, which caused chaos and accidents”Norris continued. The poor grip comes from an insufficiently heated tire.
It should be kept in mind that since 2022 the diameter of the tires has increased from 13 to 18 inches, while the temperature of the electric blankets has decreased from 100°C to 70°C for the front tires and 80°C for the rear. This entails greater effort in "bringing the tires up to temperature". once you hit the track. The goal of Formula 1 is to abolish electric blankets as early as next season, for greater environmental sustainability and energy saving.
Pirelli's explanation
However, what happened in Melbourne worries in view of 2024in terms of safety. In Australia, electric blankets have been used, but chaos has certainly not been lacking.
At the end of the race Pirelli was keen to specify how the tire warmups were difficult at the restarts for two different reasons. The warmup lap of the first restart driven by Lewis Hamilton was inexplicably slow. At the basis of the accidents instead, according to Pirelli, there would be the outside temperature, which dropped by 10°C in the closing laps of the Australian GP, thus making the second restart chaotic.
