Brazil exposed F1’s wet-tyre weakness — but not the feared crisis

The Brazilian Grand Prix at Interlagos gave Formula 1’s 2026 cars their clearest wet-weather test so far. It was less severe than the worst pre-weekend fears suggested, but it exposed a weak point in the tyre range: the intermediates struggled to warm up and wore quickly.

Before the weekend, the worry was that low grip from the new intermediates, combined with the latest engines’ more forceful torque delivery, would make the cars dangerously difficult to drive in the wet. Interlagos produced a more nuanced picture: its surface made drivability an issue at times, but not throughout. The FIA had also been working since the start of the year to manage power delivery in wet conditions.

Qualifying was red-flagged for 80 minutes after a downpour at the start of the session. The paddock consensus was that the FIA did the right thing by suspending Q1 immediately and waiting for a safe window to restart. Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur agreed, saying Ferrari’s first Q1 lap left two centimetres of water in the car.

Qualifying also offered some hope that the extreme-wet tyres had become more usable. Vasseur said F1 could use the full wets more than before, easing the pressure to switch to intermediates or mix compounds in heavier rain.

That improvement had limits. Rain in the final ten laps of the race dictated a return to intermediates, and several drivers reported that their cars became difficult to handle. Alex Albon, who finished 15th, said the wet tyres were hard to bring up to temperature yet wore quickly, leaving him sliding. Carlos Sainz said the intermediate lacked rear grip in mixed conditions and that the extreme wet still needed development.

Liam Lawson pointed to temperature as another complication: he said race-day air was much cooler than the day before. Despite less water on the track, he said, temperatures fell on the lap to the grid and the cars felt nearly undriveable.

Brazil’s main lesson was a mismatch between two imperfect wet-tyre choices, not a blanket verdict that the 2026 cars cannot race in rain. The extreme wet can displace large volumes of water, but its tread overheats as a circuit dries; the intermediates were understood to be too hard and slow to reach operating temperature. Testing restrictions also prevented Pirelli from conducting like-for-like running on the season’s narrower wheels. For 2027, Pirelli wants a faster-warming intermediate and an extreme wet that resists wear better, bringing the compounds closer together. The balance remains circuit-dependent because surfaces and temperatures vary.