F1 teams reject Pirelli intermediates: 'They were really, really good'

For a while now, Pirelli has been designing blanket-free tyres for Formula 1. Pirelli boss Mario Isola explains that he does not know why Formula 1 teams rejected the possibility of having blanket-free intermediates introduced in the 2023 season. At least eight out of 10 teams had to support the decision to introduce the tyre. These criteria were not met.

"The teams didn't agree. Unfortunately, we had more than two teams against, because we needed eight teams in favour," Isola told Motorsport.com. The Italian stressed that he did not know why teams rejected the new intermediates after they did accept the full wets. "That's a good question. But I don't have an answer, honestly."

Pirelli is working towards introducing blanket-free slicks by 2024. The car company therefore wanted to announce the intermediates early in the season. Perhaps because only a few teams were involved in the intermediate tests, it was somewhat unfair to the rest of the teams.

Isola said it was not practical to give everyone the chance of testing. "It never happened before that we had a full test with all the teams, because you simply cannot organise it."