Pirelli will bring a new specification of wet and intermediate tyres to Formula 1 in 2027, after drivers criticised the current rain tyres at last weekend's São Paulo Grand Prix.
The main target is the intermediate, the grooved tyre used on a damp track, which drivers say takes too long to reach its working temperature.
Rain at Interlagos
The weekend at Interlagos was the first this season where rain was all but certain for both qualifying and the race.
Qualifying was so wet that the full wet tyre, rarely used in recent years, became the one to have. The race started on intermediates, switched to slicks as the track dried, and finished back on intermediates when the rain returned for the closing laps.
That late switch caused the most trouble. Several drivers said their cars became hard to handle once they were back on intermediates.
What the drivers said
Williams driver Carlos Sainz said both the wet and the intermediate needed more work with Pirelli, and that the intermediate was weak at the rear.
Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson said the cars were nearly undriveable on the laps to the grid, as temperatures kept dropping. Alex Albon said the tyres never seemed to get up to temperature.
Why the tyres are hard to warm up
This year's cars run on narrower wheels under the new 2026 rules and put bigger loads through the tyres. Pirelli also had limited chances to test its wet tyres on the new cars, after a planned wet test in Bahrain in February was called off.
The current intermediate is regarded as too hard, so it is slow to come up to temperature.
Pirelli's Dario Marrafuschi confirmed the change: "Tyre development is going ahead and we have a different spec for next year." He said the work has focused on how quickly the intermediate warms up.
What happens next
Pirelli has not yet given details of the 2027 tyres. Its aim is to bring the wet-weather compounds closer together, so the intermediate warms up faster and the full wet lasts longer.
Until then, teams race on the current tyres in the last three rounds: Las Vegas, Qatar and Abu Dhabi.
Race it on Late Brake
Interlagos is one of the six real circuits in Late Brake, the free browser game. Take it on against AI rivals, follow the racing line through the Senna S, and chase the gold medal time.
Sources: The Race, Autosport, Motorsport.com