Ferrari and Red Bull fail in their attempt to get a vote passed for a return to 2018’s tyre designs. The team bosses met with FIA and Pirelli representatives.

Scuderia Ferrari and Red Bull have failed in their attempt to get a vote passed for a return to 2018’s Formula One tyre designs. The team bosses met with FIA and Pirelli representatives at the Red Bull Ring on Friday morning in order to discuss potentially switching to the 2018 Pirelli tyres. For a mid-season change to happen, either seven of the 10 teams must agree, or the FIA will need to invoke a change on ’safety grounds’.

Pirelli switched to a thinner treaded tyre for 2019 to stop overheating, but Dr Helmut Marko says “only Mercedes” can always put them in a narrow working window. And indeed, Mercedes and its customer teams have voted against the change.

“If we had last year’s tyres, I’m not saying we’d be winning but there would be more equality,” said Scuderia Ferrari German driver Sebastian Vettel.

As reported by leading German automobile magazine Auto motor und sport, there was a vote about returning to thicker tread tyres in today’s meeting. It was 5:5 – not the necessary 7 votes in favor of changes. So the tyres will stay the same.

Ferrari and the Red Bull teams were thought to be keen, but McLaren and Mercedes were among those against.