F1 unlikely to see 18-inch wheels until 2017 – Pirelli

2014 F1 season

Posted on

| Written by

Pirelli motorsport director Paul Hembery says Formula One is not likely to see 18-inch wheels in action until 2017 at the earliest.

F1’s official tyre supplier tested prototype 18-inch wheels on Lotus’s car at Silverstone last week following discussions over whether the sport should replace the current 13-inch wheels.

Hembery said Pirelli “could probably be ready in 2016” to supply 18-inch tyres “but the sport is talking about 2017 at the moment”.

He said last week’s test “was an exercise really that was borne out of discussion that we had in the F1 Commission meeting where there was discussion of tyres, what should happen with them in the future”.

“We felt, rather than discuss it, we ought to maybe put some on a current car and people can actually decide with the F1 Commission can actually see real images of the car with that sort of tyre on them.”

“These were 18 [inches], maybe 19 is probably more interesting going forward.”

Hembery said the response to the change had been positive: “The feedback we’ve had generally has been very good.”

“People have been forwarding us all sorts fans’ surveys that they’ve had on their individual websites and between 70 and 80 percent* depending on the survey have been very favourable.

“On a personal level they look quite good. I wasn’t very sure if I was going to like it, if I’m honest, but I thought it looked very good and quite natural. So it’s a route that if the sport wants to follow we’d be keen to do.”

However Hembery said a return to competition between tyre suppliers, which F1 last had in 2006, did not necessarily appeal.

“It’s obviously a question for the sport,” he said when asked if Pirelli would compete in a ‘tyre war’.

“Ultimately the sport should primarily be about the drivers and then you have engines. If you throw in tyres as well you can tend to lose your way.

“We’d be interested if the rules are in the right direction but there hasn’t seemed to be much of an appetite for doing that, it’s another element that’s out of the control of the teams.

“We have enough controversy even when we’re the sole supplier so adding another supplier, you could have another question mark. I don’t know, it’s one you can only really answer when you know the conditions of competition.”

*In an F1 Fanatic survey last year 65% of fans supported a move to increase wheel sizes beyond the current 13 inches.

2014 German Grand Prix

Browse all 2014 German Grand Prix articles

Images © Lotus/LAT

Author information

Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

Got a potential story, tip or enquiry? Find out more about RaceFans and contact us here.

15 comments on “F1 unlikely to see 18-inch wheels until 2017 – Pirelli”

  1. Maybe in 2017 I’ll like them…

    I mantain it’s not a needed change… it might be appealing to some in terms of looks, but other than that… I don’t see much reasoning behind it.

    1. Because it’s more relevant to road wheels/tyres and that makes it more relevant to the manufacturers in F1. It may also encourage other manufacturers to join. The more irrelevant it becomes the less likely manufacturers can justify taking part in the sport and that can only be a bad thing. The sport must remain relevant to fans and competitors alike.

    2. @fer-no65 Compared to so many other aspects of F1, in terms of aesthetics, this seems like such a minor change to me. They could throw them on all the cars tomorrow and it wouldn’t bother me in the slightest.

      In fact, getting to see the new rims in person at Silverstone has only made me acutely aware of how odd the current 13-inch wheels look…

    3. It doesn’t help that the wheels on that Renault are really, really ugly.

      Gold alloys looks like something from ‘Pimp My Ride’.

  2. I think the current 13″ wheels with those big balloon-like donuts attached to them look cartoonish. I can’t wait for 18″ wheels, I think they look so much better.

  3. Keep them away from F1 as long as possible ! Look at the 2nd picture… horrible ! Sorry for repeating this, but 15” (in worst case 16”) should be the max size… in case a change for a bigger rim is that important.

    1. You’re joking right? It looks fantastic. The only cars around my area with 13″ rims are little hatchbacks with 38hp. Nobody upgrades their rims to 13″…

  4. I don’t think the larger wheels look so bad…

    at least, not as bad as most of the noses on this year’s cars.

  5. Rylan Ziegler
    18th July 2014, 19:40

    I could really not possibly care less about 13″ wheels vs. 18″. The only benefit that i can see of the larger wheels is that it would allow the cars to run larger brake discs thus improving braking efficiency, other than that I feel that it’s a pointless change.

  6. Its not just about road relevance or the looks & its not something been pushed by the FIA or Bernie/FOM.

    Larger tyres is something that every tyre supplier thats been in F1 recently has wanted. Bridgestone wanted to move to 15″ tyres, Michelin proposed 18″ tyres & Pirelli have been doing the same since they entered F1.

    One reason not been mentioned so far is that pretty much every other category already uses larger tyres, Indycar runs 15″ & Sportscars, GT & some other open wheel categories already run 18″ tyres.
    As such F1 going the same way will allow tyre suppliers share tyre data across categories & use the same tyre molds, Compounds & construction.
    Bridgestone were pushing for 15″ so they could share data between F1 & Champcar/Indycar.
    Michelin wanted 18″ tyres so it could share data between F1 & some of the other categories it runs in (WEC for example).

    Right now with F1 tyres been smaller than every other category tyre suppliers are not really able to share data across categories & they have to come up with F1 specific tyre molds & other tyre construction equipment.

    1. so basically it would equalize F1 to other racing series. Just another chip away towards totally neutering F1.

      F1 needs to be totally special. These machines need to be visceral beasts unmatched in their pace around a circuit. They need to be the polar opposite of “road relevant”. Thats why we have BTCC, WEC, V8 supercars, etc.

  7. To be honest, if they switched from 18″ to the current 13″ I would probably be thinking “ew those wheels and tyres are ugly” I would happily see these new wheels on F1 cars. I wonder if there will be new suspension technology that will appear on F1 cars because of these wheels.. :)

    1. @marc512 More likely there will be “old” technology, I mean of course active suspension, and thanks to F1’s current obsession with being road relevant it may come at the same time as the tyre size change.

  8. Road relevant! LMAO! F1 cars are not road relevant, what road car has carbon fiber suspension, changes engines 5 times a year, or goes thru 2-4 sets of tires in one road trip? Meh keep F1 true F1 its a racing car not something anyone will be driving during a night on the town.

  9. Gideon Hadi (@)
    19th July 2014, 5:17

    There will be 3 years to wait. Well, i think it is a good timing

Comments are closed.