Hamilton: Fans want 'better racing', not tyre management

Lewis Hamilton is urging Pirelli to cater to F1's fans in the future by producing a tyre that puts the emphasis on racing rather than on critical tyre management.

Tyres have been at forefront of F1's attention since the start of the 2020 season, with drivers required to skillfully manage their rubber during races much to the detriment of the spectacle on the track.

Hamilton, who secured in Barcelona his fourth win of the season, admitted that racing with tyre management as a main priority is not appealing to drivers or to fans.

"We really need to put a lot of pressure on Pirelli for the future," he said I Barcelona.

"They didn't, unfortunately, do a great job with a tyre at the end of last year, to develop the 2020 tyre. And so we had to carry over the same tyre from 2019 into this season."

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Pirelli had developped a 2020 tyre based on the FIA's target letter which specifies the criteria that a tyre must fulfill.

Unfortunately, after drivers sampled Pirelli's 2020 tyre, the group was unimpressed with the manufacturer's efforts to comply with the target letter.

F1 therefore decided to keep last year's tyre for this season, later amending its decision to include the 2021 season as well.

"In the past when they made the target letter, the drivers were not a part of that discussion," added Hamilton.

"And so that's why last year I went to the meeting in Paris, as part of representing the drivers. We want to help them make sure that they set the target letter correctly. It's not been done right for a long time.

"Moving forwards, they're probably not going to be able to do it for next year, but for 2022 we need a better tyre, we need a tyre that gives us more grip, better safety, and enables us to to drive closer to cars and give you guys and the fans better racing.

"Right now, we're [doing] a serious amount of management. And I don't think that's what the fans want.

"That's not what a racing driver wants, to have to manage it behind a car, multiple seconds behind, because the tyres are not good enough.

"And so we want to help Pirelli to make a better tyre, if they can. And that's obviously the question."

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