Meeting called to scrap 2019 Pirelli tyres

A key meeting has been convened at the scene of the Austrian grand prix.

Apparently alarmed by what Sergio Perez calls some of the "incredibly boring" races this year, top officials are behind a new push to scrap Pirelli’s 2019 tyres.

The team bosses will meet with FIA and Pirelli representatives at the Red Bull Ring on Friday morning to discuss potentially switching to the 2018 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.

Indeed, Mercedes and its two customer teams are voting against the change.

But so too is McLaren, which means there is not enough support for the tyre switch.

"The tyres are the same for everyone, so we try not to blame them if we have a difficult race," said McLaren driver Carlos Sainz.

Many think the push to revert to the 2018 tyre design is specifically to reign in Mercedes’ utter dominance.

"If we had last year’s tyres, I’m not saying we’d be winning but there would be more equality," said Sebastian Vettel.

It is believed that if the teams do manage to win over a Mercedes team or McLaren, Pirelli can have the 2018 tyre supply ready for Spa in September.

"Yes, in principle, but no one knows what the result would actually be," Pirelli’s Mario Isola told Bild newspaper.

McLaren boss Andreas Seidl agrees.

"It would not be sporting to change the tyres in the middle of the season," he said.