McLaren delivers warning over potential 2024 F1 problem

McLaren Team Principal Andrea Stella has warned that Formula 1 willneed to monitor the increase in downforce levels that could impactthe Pirelli tyres in 2024. The tyres will stay at the samespecification as they are currently in 2023, after confirming theywould axe the P0 compound. The C1 will stay as the hardest whilethe C5 will be the softest. After Lando Norris suffered a heavycrash during the opening stages of the Las Vegas Grand Prix due tolow tyre pressures, Stella believes Pirelli will need to monitorthe impact throughout the year. "If we look at some events, wedefinitely this year have had some extreme parameters in terms ofstarting conditions for the tyres when it comes to pressures inparticular," Stella told media, including RacingNews365 . "How farmore can we go just to protect tyres? Having said that, if youthink about Vegas, the starting pressures were very, very high. Ithink some runners might have seen 30psi while running. "Ultimatelythis is exactly where Pirelli have the competence, their expertise.If they think their construction and tyre development needs tomatch car development, ultimately they will act." Stella: The tyrescan the changed from race to race Teams already provide aprojection of their expected performance levels through thefollowing year's championship, with tyre makers Pirelli thendesigning a tyre capable of performing to those loads andspecifications. Pirelli already introduced a new specification oftyre midway through the year at the British Grand Prix in 2023using this system, after the expected performance increase wasgreat than initially predicted. "We know that when it's up onsafety, then tyres can be can be upgraded just basically from onerace to the other," said Stella. "We do many tests for Pirelliwhere the 35 days of testing actually these days should beincreased for the future. We have enough testing, we have enoughexpertise with Pirelli, we are in good hands. "Certainly the tyresare receiving some heavy duty cycle, if you think about thestarting parameters, and when you look at the numbers of these F1which are just huge in terms of load on the tyres is totallyunprecedented."