“The extreme rain tire is pretty useless”: George Russell clearly is not a fan of Pirelli wets

George Russell claimed that the wet tires made by Pirelli for extreme weather conditions are 'useless' because of the mere gap that is created between the intermediate and wet tire runners.

He revealed that the blue-colored compound is around seven seconds slower than the intermediate tires and that the gap should be reduced by Pirelli. Motorsport quoted George Russell:

"The extreme rain tire is pretty useless, it's very, very bad. It's probably six, seven seconds a lap slower than the intermediate, and the only reason you'd run with it is because you'd be aquaplaning with the intermediates, so it should be improved substantially."

The 2023 Belgian Grand Prix weekend had mixed-up weather conditions, especially during the start of the Sprint race, when all drivers were on the wet tires behind the safety car start, but soon pitted for the inters. This was because the track had turned quite dry by the time the race started.

The wet tire is supposed to displace much more water than the intermediates. Around 65 litres of water per second is displaced while the latter only does about 30 litres.

While this would surely make the cars run much safer, it also slows them down significantly. At the same time, George Russell's claim to reduce that gap between the two tires could be useful.

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Charles Leclerc agreed with George Russell over wet tire improvement

The blue, wet tires haven't been used a lot in the 2022 and 2023 seasons owing to the fact that the race gets stopped under extreme conditions, and it happens rarely that drivers are allowed to run.

However, during a condition when the track has mixed weather, it could be dangerous because teams would want to run the intermediate tires due to the gap between the two wet compounds. In confusing conditions, this could be fatal and might lead to crashes.

Charles Leclerc agreed with fellow F1 driver George Russell, stating:

"We have to work a little there because we have extreme rain tires that are very slow, but are very good for aquaplaning although we never drove in those conditions because of the visibility."

Leclerc then suggested that the gap between the two tires should be improved by Pirelli to make the racing safer and more competitive between the two compound runners. He said:

"For this reason, whenever it is possible to drive we must go with the intermediates, so yes, it is quite complicated at the moment, I think that the extreme rain rubber should be faster and closer to the intermediates."