F1: AlphaTauri Boss Tost Feels Tyre Problems At Baku Ocurred Due To Warmers 

AlphaTauri's boss Franz Tost is amongst the most experienced and wisest team principals in F1. In the wake of the Pirelli tyres disintegrating and causing high profile, crashes at extreme speeds in Baku, the Austrian has pointed fingers at the excessive use of tyre warmers in F1 as one of the core issues. His comments came after Pirelli pointed fingers towards Red Bull and Aston Martin using lower than prescribed tyre pressures in their vehicles which it believed contributed to the crashes.

"I indicated three years ago that they should be banned. However, many other teams were against that, because everyone thought they would have an advantage through a special trick," Tost said to Auto, Motor und Sport.

Max Verstappen crashed out of the Azerbaijan GP F1 2021

"The problems are actually self-made. There are several reasons against the tyre warmers. Firstly the technology and secondly the durability," he further explained. He also said that they add to the cost issues in the age of the cost cap.

"You should see how many tyre warmers are plugged in overnight. Thirdly, the cost. I signed a contract for 2022 around the tyre warmers and it came to 375,000 euros," the Austrian revealed.

His comments are interesting as they come at a time when AlphaTauri's parent team is being accused of pushing the limits of the regulations to extract more performance which has caused safety issues as well. Red Bull has pushed back against these insinuations with Max Verstappen who crashed while leading the race at Baku even saying that Pirelli should be looking inwards.