“They’re putting drivers at risk”: Sergio Perez labels FIA’s decision of lowering tire blanket temperatures as ‘dangerous’

Red Bull’s Sergio Perez insists that lowering the tire blanket temperatures will put drivers at risk because of cold tires. 

Tire blankets have been common in F1 for a long time. It’s very crucial for teams, who use to keep the tires of their cars warm when it’s stationary. This is particularly vital before qualifying runs and race start, where the tires need maximum grip.

If the tires have low temperatures, they don’t provide enough grip which may lead to poor pace and even drivers losing control of the car. As a result, we always see teams hold down a special blanket to cover the tires ahead of a race/qualifying session.

In recent weeks, the FIA has been planning to bring about a change to this. They want to lower the temperature in these special blankets which would also bring down the tire temperature on race starts. It’s a proposal that has not gone well with F1 drivers who feel it’s dangerous.

One such driver to openly speak out against this was Red Bull star, Sergio Perez.

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Lower tire temperature will be dangerous for drivers, says Sergio Perez

Last year, it was reported that the sport want to remove these blankets from F1 altogether. The top teams, however, were firmly against this, citing safety measures as a huge reason. Even though it’s very energy consuming and expensive, the teams want it to remain.

Smaller teams on the other hand, were not as concerned about the temperature blanket’s removal.

This year, there are talks of the number of blankets per team reducing from 40 to 20. On top of that, the energy consumption is also expected to be reduced, which means that there will be a drop in temperature.

“I think already for next year they’re trying to go even lower,” Sergio Perez said as quoted by Autosport. I feel like they’re putting the driver at risk because there are some situations where it can become quite dangerous”

If the tires don’t reach optimal temperatures before races or qualifying runs, we may see a lot of drivers lose control, especially in damper and colder conditions.

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