The 2024 Formula 1 season is upon us and behind the scenes the teams are preparing for the championship, also on a regulatory level. During the last F1 Commission, significant changes were made to the sprint format, such as a reorganization of the sessions which moved the Shootout to Friday afternoon, while the sprint race will be held on Saturday morning, before the Grand Prix qualifying which is they were instead relocated to the “classic” Saturday afternoon slot.
However, the news does not stop at just the revision of the sprint format, because in the last meeting in February the return to four Power Units per world championship was approved and the possibility of activating the DRS one lap earlier than what happened in the last season. This last aspect, in truth, had already been tested during the sprint races and has now been extended to all the events on the calendar.
Still on the sporting front, however, there is also another interesting change, which concerns the number of sets of wet tires available to each driver over the course of a weekend. Until the last championship, each driver could normally count on four sets of intermediate tires and three sets of extreme wet tyres, more commonly called full wet. Depending on the weather conditions, the race director could however decide to grant an extra set of intermediates on Saturday morning, guaranteeing greater flexibility to the teams, who did not have to stay in the pits to save tires for qualifying and the race.
Pirelli full wet tyres
Photo by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images
However, in 2024 there will also be some news on this front, because the allocation of coverage during the weekend will be revised. In fact, the number of intermediate trains per weekend will rise from four to five, while that of full wet will drop from three to two. In this way the total number of sets available will not vary, so Pirelli will not have to intervene by changing its plans or producing more tyres, but the allocation will only be revised to give the teams even more flexibility.
The change has already had the green light from the F1 Commission but, at the moment, it has not yet been included in the regulations, as it must receive the approval and correction of the FIA world council, which will be held in the next few weeks, just before the start of the World Cup.
“There are other changes for 2024, such as a different allocation of wet tyres. We go from four sets of intermediates to three sets of extreme [full wet] to five trains of intermediate and two of extreme, always in the direction of making the weekend more interesting for the drivers and the competition more challenging for the teams”, explained Diego Ioverno, Ferrari sporting director.
Charles Leclerc, Ferrari SF-23
Photo by: Erik Junius
A partly understandable choice, given that more and more often in recent years the races have been interrupted in case of pouring rain due to the poor visibility conditioned by the spray raised by the cars, and then resumed when the track is already starting to turn towards the conditions for the transition to intermediate.
On this front, the FIA is working concretely behind the scenes to implement a solution that can reduce the spray when there is a lot of water on the track but, after a less than exciting first test last July, the governing body has decided to take some time to review the splashback design. The basic problem is that in addition to the drops of water coming from the covers there are also those sprayed by the diffuser, which are much more difficult to stop without significantly compromising the aerodynamics of the car. A new test, this time in collaboration with Ferrari, should be carried out in the spring, but it is clear that a possible introduction will not be so immediate.
Aware of the possibility that Formula 1 will move increasingly towards situations in which full wet will not be exploited, Pirelli has already put forward alternative proposals, such as the creation of a “super-intermediate” tyre, i.e. an intermediate compound which with a range of wider use, so as to be able to cover a greater number of scenarios up to the dry crossover.
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