Formula One drivers have voiced severe concerns over tyre warming performance ahead of a potentially wet Canadian Grand Prix at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve on Sunday, May 24, 2026.
Persistent light rain is threatening the Montreal track.
Every official track session this year has been completely dry, except for a brief shower in Miami where drivers remained on slick tyres.
This leaves competitors with little experience regarding how the new generation of cars behaves in wet conditions.
Drivers Highlight Temperature Challenges
Lando Norris, McLaren driver, stated that the temperature issues would make the race highly unpredictable under the forecasted weather conditions.
"I think it could be an insanely tricky race," he said.
"It's difficult enough to get temperature into a soft tyre, let alone when it's 10 degrees colder tomorrow and we're going to have intermediates and wets on the car," Norris added.
The FIA previously reduced battery power delivery regulations from 350 kilowatts to 250 kilowatts for low-grip conditions to make the vehicles less challenging to control.
George Russell, Mercedes driver, noted that this still leaves hundreds of horsepower under the driver's right foot.
"I think what everybody is alluding to is just the tyres," Russell said. "That's going to be the biggest challenge.
These tyres only seem to work when they have sufficient temperature within them and with only 12, 13 degrees Celsius ambient tomorrow, it's going to be really challenging to get that rubber softened to give us the grip."
The pole-winner acknowledged that the environmental risks apply equally to all competitors. "It's going to be risky.
It's going to be challenging.
It probably isn't going to be very pleasant, but it's part of the game and I'm excited for that challenge," Russell said.
Andrea Kimi Antonelli explained that the characteristics of the Montreal circuit exacerbate the difficulty of retaining critical rubber temperatures.
"We tried the tyre last year and it was not the nicest," he said. "There were a few aquaplaning moments, so it's tricky."
The driver emphasized that sliding occurs heavily during the opening laps before the compound begins functioning properly.
"This is already a track where it's hard to put temperature on the tyres in the dry," Antonelli said.
"Tomorrow is going to be cold and wet and it's going to be hard to build temperature, which is the main thing for us, because once you get temperature, it's actually not too bad."
Antonelli added that initial forecasts can be unpredictable, referencing previous weather deviations experienced during the race weekend in Miami.
"But it's those first few laps where you're just sliding around and the tyre is not really working," he said.
"It's not easy, it's going to be tricky, but let's see first what the weather is going to be like, because also in Miami it was meant to rain and it didn't."
Officials confirmed that if wet conditions occur, the Straight Mode zone approaching the turn four hairpin will be deactivated and the remaining three activation zones will be shortened.
