'Silly' wet tyre rules 'rob the fans', says Hamilton

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Championship leader Lewis Hamilton has called for an overhaul of Formula 1's rules restricting the number of wet tyres each driver can use during a Grand Prix event.

He was speaking after wet weather in Suzuka meant there was virtually no running in the second free practice session on Friday. It had been a major damp squib for the fans who had come to see their favourite drivers in action.

"The fans are pretty special here," Hamilton said on the day. "To be out there in the rain, waiting for us to go out through the whole of FP2.

"I wanted to go out and at least give them a little bit of a show," he added. "Hopefully at least they got to see something as not many cars went out."

Most drivers stayed in the garage. Only 14 took part in FP2 and just five completed timed laps. Hamilton set the fastest time, albeit nearly 20 seconds off his pace in the dry FP1.

Hamilton said the regulations governing the use of wet tyres had largely been to blame for drivers playing safe.

Each driver is allowed only four sets of intermediate tyres and three sets of wet tyres for the whole race weekend.

That meant teams felt it was better for cars not to run in order to save tyres for the qualifying and the race. It also avoided the risk of aquaplaning into an accident and damaging the car.

Hulkenberg urges Pirelli to improve wet weather tyres

“It’s better not to go out because we might need [these tyres] in the race," Hamilton explained. "Of course the teams don’t want us to go out because it’s risky.

"It’s a silly rule. There are fans that sit out in the rain all day, and because they restrict us with these stupid tyres we can’t go out," he continued. "But if we just had more tyres we could run more.

"If they just make it a lot more relaxed and free then we can go out and give some entertainment," he insisted. "That’s the most important thing.

“The guys were sitting out for the whole of P2 in the rain and they saw like three cars. I think that’s unfair.

"That’s my strong feeling about it. It’s a silly, silly rule. I feel like we rob them. They should get their money back."

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.