Pirelli not planning to reintroduce F1 tire allocation choices in 2022

Pirelli motorsport boss Mario Isola has revealed that the F1 is not planning to reintroduce tire allocation choices to teams in 2022 after it was “temporarily” halted in mid-2020. Prior to that, teams were allowed to choose the number of tires and compounds they wanted for a specific race weekend.

Isola has revealed that teams are happy with the current arrangement and have not shown interest in reverting to the old practice. Speaking at a post-season interview with RaceFans, Isola said:

“The teams came back to us saying actually the system is quite good, we want to keep it for the future. So, it was not our decision at the end to continue with this fixed allocation."

“The teams told us that if they have a fixed allocation and it’s the same for everybody so there is no advantage for one or the other, they can start planning on this fixed allocation instead of spending time and resources and people to think about one set more of medium or one set less of soft. They have that allocation; they have to work around this.”

After the 2020 season was delayed for a number of months due to the Covid-19 pandemic, F1 scrambled to organize more than a dozen races in very little time. In order to simplify logistics, Pirelli started to supply each team with a standard number of tires and compounds, allowing for more flexibility in logistics.

Furthermore, standardized tire allocations reduce tire wastage, which F1 was often criticized for in the recent past. Heading into the 2022 season, when the sport is switching to 18-inch rims from the previous 13-inch rims—in an effort to be more relevant to real world automotive practices—teams will continue to receive a standard number of tires and compounds from Pirelli.

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F1 considering vaccination mandate ahead of 2022 season

F1 is reportedly considering making Covid-19 vaccines mandatory for all FOM and team personnel ahead of the 2022 season following fears that a further wave of infections may disrupt the season.

Speaking at a post-season interview with Express, FIA’s director of operations Bruno Famin said:

"Some countries, at some events, mandatory vaccination is progressing, It's something we may consider, but for the time being nothing has been decided yet. But unfortunately, with this new variant, we have in Europe, the pandemic is increasing a lot and the hospitals are getting full again.

"In terms of what will happen next year, it’s a bit too early because three weeks ago, we all thought that the pandemic was almost over and 2022 would be just back to normal.”

Since 2020, a number of high-profile personalities within the paddock have tested positive for the virus, leading to them missing race weekends. F1 is hoping to organize a record-breaking 23 races in the upcoming season and therefore would need to ensure that team personnel do not contract the virus.