Mercedes explains Vettel's sliding in Turkey: 'Higher temperature needed'

Something that will always remind people of the Turkish Grand Prix was the decision of Aston Martin and Sebastian Vettel to try slicks. After one lap of slipping and sliding, he then immediately drove back into the pits to get other tyres. Mercedes technical director James Allison explains why the slicks didn't work at that moment.

Trying the slicks didn't seem like a bad decision at all. The other drivers had already done so many laps on the intermediates that they were essentially slicks. The reason that the slicks weren't optimal after all had to do with the composition of the rubber.

"Dry tires are not just dry tires because they have no tread. They are dry tires because the rubber is designed primarily to achieve a certain speed and have a certain amount of energy. That's why it works at a much higher temperature than the average," the Brit explained at Formel1.de.

Despite the fact that the tyres come out of the blankets nicely preheated, the temperature drops too fast and thus the rubber no longer works after just a few laps. This was the reason why Vettel could not keep his car on the track.

What also didn't help were the weather conditions. The dry line didn't come because there was no sun, the temperature stayed relatively low and the humidity remained high. The track retained its humidity making the slicks impossible to use.