F1 tires' inability to heat up and graining has engineers puzzled

The all-new Pirelli tires that F1 switched over to for the 2022 season still remain a mystery for most teams. After the first four rounds of the season, several teams are reportedly still struggling to get the new compounds into their ideal working window.

According to Auto Motor und Sport, which quotes several unnamed sources, Mercedes and Alpine are the worst affected, with both teams struggling to keep the tires within the ideal temperatures.

The Mercedes W13 seems unable to get its tires warmed up quickly, as evidenced by Lewis Hamilton’s struggles in Bahrain and Imola.

On his outlap after a scheduled pit stop in Bahrain, Hamilton lacked grip to such an extent that he lost two positions within the first few corners.

In Imola, the car was unable to warm up its tires quickly during a tricky qualifying session with ever-changing weather. This resulted in both Mercedes being eliminated from Q2 for the first time in nearly a decade.

Speaking about their issues with tire warmup, Mercedes’ head of trackside engineering, Andrew Shovlin, said:

"It's no longer so easy to radiate heat from the brakes to the rims and tires in a targeted manner.”

Meanwhile, Alpine seems to be on the other end of the spectrum. The A522 can get its tires warmed up in an incredibly short period of time. This often makes it the third-fastest car on the track over a single lap, as evidenced by their performances in Australian GP qualifying.

However, when the car has to do a Grand Prix distance, it seems to overheat its tires, leading them to grain and lose grip quickly. During the Imola GP Sprint, Fernando Alonso was powerless to stop rivals from passing him as his tires started to degrade by mid-race.

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2022 F1 cars’ inherent understeer influences graining: Isola

The 2022 F1 cars are heavier and have less downforce in slow-speed corners compared to previous generation cars. According to Pirelli F1 boss Mario Isola, this plays a role in tire graining issues that teams are currently facing.

Speaking to Auto Motor und Sport, Isola said:

"The cars show a tendency to understeer in the slow corners. On a cold track, the front tires start to slip. This causes the surface temperature to skyrocket, and the rubber is pulled from the tread."

Red Bull and Ferrari seem to be the only teams with a good handle on their tires currently. However, both teams — along with most of the grid — had to manage front tire graining at the Imola GP.

Isola believes this might have been due to the way most teams set up their cars. Given that the entire weekend was forecast to be affected by rain, teams went with setups that protected the rear tires. However, when the conditions started to dry, the setups became a disadvantage.