Pirelli warns of potential ‘perfect storm’ in event of wet Canadian GP

Pirelli chief F1 engineer Simone Berra believes a first wet race in this new regulation set at the Canadian GP would be a “perfect storm”, considering the low temperatures in Montréal over the weekend.

The Canadian Grand Prix has officially been declared a Rain Hazard event by the FIA, with a greater than 40% chance of wet weather during the race, and forecasts for light rain for most of the day.

Pirelli: Wet Canadian GP could be ‘perfect storm’

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Pirelli has not yet had the opportunity to utilise its new wet tyres this season, with wet-weather tyre testing having taken place up and down the grid at different times.

Alpine driver Pierre Gasly, who most recently completed wet running with Formula 1’s tyre supplier at Magny-Cours, raised his concerns about a wet race in Canada, telling his fellow drivers that “you guys are going to be shocked” by how the new rubber handles.

Lando Norris admitted he was “not looking forward to it” in wet conditions, adding “there could be a lot of chaos” given drivers’ differing knowledge levels of the 2026 compounds.

Pirelli has reduced the width of both the front and rear tyres heading into the 2026 season, and Berra explained that, with low temperatures set to combine with a low-grip surface and the possibility of rain, he would personally choose the full wet tyre over intermediates in such conditions.

“Here, I think is the perfect storm, I would say,” he said, “because we have cold temperatures, a low-energy circuit.

“If it rains here, it will be complicated, because looking at the forecast, they expect to have 11, 12 degrees’ air temperatures, and also the track, if it rains, it will be pretty similar.

“So, we never had these conditions, we never designed the tyres for these conditions, because it’s very cold and can be tricky. I think it would be more tricky on the intermediates, a little bit less tricky with the wet.

“There is more compound. The compound itself has lower working range, so I guess the wet will struggle a little bit less, so it is a possibility that we could end up that the wet is – for one time in the last years, faster than intermediates, I would say.

“It’s not just a matter of warm-up, because the point is that if we are speaking just about the warm-up, if it takes five laps and you reach a stabilised condition that is good to reach a working window, then it’s good enough – you just need to wait for the right window.

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“But, the point is that, if you start losing temperature and you never find a way to generate the temperature to regain it, then it becomes [difficult] because you start to struggle, and you have no grip, so basically you cannot run with these low temperatures.

“That’s why, my opinion, the wet probably here, it’s a good circuit where it can work totally.

“We’ve seen already two years ago where it was a wet race. Haas decided to use the wet at the start of the race, and they did eight laps on the wet, they went faster, and then intermediate two years ago were in a different situation compared to this year.

“So, I think that if it rains on Sunday, we will be in a pretty similar situation. Personally, I would use the wet tyres.”

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