Formula 1 tyre supplier Pirelli is close to finalising new specification wet-weather tyres for next season that already address concerns drivers voiced last weekend, as The Race reports. F1 had its first proper wet weekend of the year at Interlagos, with both qualifying and the race impacted by the rain. Saturday's running took place in conditions that were so extreme that the wet tyre, which has rarely been used in recent years, became the preferred choice for the conditions. The race on Sunday was hit by showers, with drivers starting on intermediates, shifting to slicks and then reverting to inters towards the end when the rain returned.
Despite there being no major incidents, drivers were still unhappy with how the wet rubber behaved. Williams driver Carlos Sainz called for work to be done with Pirelli to deliver improvements in the future, stating that the level of the wet and the inter is not good enough. Sainz noted that the inter is a very weak tyre at the rear and loses the front by the time it warms up, while the extreme wet suffered from massive aquaplaning and a big lack of rear grip. The biggest challenge that drivers faced with the intermediate tyre on Sunday was getting them up to operating temperature, a struggle echoed by Racing Bulls driver Liam Lawson, who described the cars as nearly undriveable on the low-speed laps to the grid.
Alex Albon, who described the laps to the grid as insane, explained that things were not much better once the tyres were up to temperature, feeling like the tread comes off immediately and leaving drivers sliding around. Alpine's Pierre Gasly also criticized the inters, stating that they feel very poor and comparing the final stint in Brazil to driving on ice. This drop in performance is partly due to Pirelli having to design a tyre for the 2026 rules that can cope with the immense forces from straight mode and corner mode transitions, plus active aero failure scenarios, resulting in a more robust and stiffer intermediate tyre alongside increased minimum pressures.
Haas driver Ollie Bearman also noted that the tyres are less forgiving and very hard to warm up. However, Mercedes driver George Russell pointed out that the three wet tracks driven on so far featured very rough tarmacs and relatively warm ambient temperatures, raising questions about how the rubber will behave in colder conditions like a 15 degrees Spa. Pirelli motorsport boss Dario Marrafuschi confirmed that tyre development is progressing and a different specification is coming for next year, specifically targeting the warm-up phase on the intermediates following driver feedback.
While Marrafuschi noted that the current specs delivered very good racing in Malaysia, Singapore, and Brazil, optimizations are being made and final homologation with the FIA will take place in December. He also suggested that some of the warm-up variance came down to team setups and car tunings, pointing to Lewis Hamilton's astonishing performance with zero warm-up problems at the start of the race compared to drivers who struggled from the formation laps.
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