“It puts a lot of pressure on Pirelli”– Lewis Hamilton supports return of re-fuelling

“It puts a lot of pressure on Pirelli”– Lewis Hamilton supports the re-fuelling of Formula 1 cars amidst the rising weight of the cars.

Lewis Hamilton is advocating the return of re-fuelling, which was banned in 2010 to enhance safety during the races, but Max Verstappen is now in favour of recalling them.

Hamilton’s view is a sympathetic comment towards Pirelli, as with the F1 cars getting heavier, it’s tough for Pirelli to meet the safety demands as claimed by the Briton.

“The cars are getting [even] heavier,” he said. “I don’t know who’s making that decision. It’s going to be potentially even worse next year with a heavier car again.”

“It puts a lot of pressure on Pirelli, to continue to deliver us performance, but also safe tyres. Usually, in our discussions we’re just always asking…safety is so, so important and we’re seeing more and more of these incidents.”

“We’ve got to make sure we work towards not having those in future. If that means like next year maybe going back to refuelling, so the cars are lighter or something like that, so we don’t put so much pressure on these tyres for safety, that could be a good thing.”

Car re-fuelling: A dilemma

Car refuelling is certainly a dangerous practice in motorsport, with Jos Verstappen once catching fire during the German Grand Prix in 1994, though he was rescued safely.

However, with the re-fuelling, starting loads could be as low as one-third of the current load of 100kgs. So, re-fuellings has two contrasting aspects to it.

Anyway, it is unlikely FIA allowing it in the current F1 scene. Plus, the competitive aspect of F1 can lead to hazardous mistakes. Therefore, F1 should come up with a better solution for the teams to have a solution for enhanced safety in racing.

About the author

Tanish Chachra

Tanish Chachra is the Motorsport editor at The SportsRush. He saw his first race when F1 visited India in 2011, and since then, his romance with the sport has been seasonal until he took up this role in 2020. Reigniting F1's coverage on this site, Tanish has fallen in love with the sport all over again. He loves Kimi Raikkonen and sees a future world champion in Oscar Piastri. Away from us, he loves to snuggle inside his books.

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