F1 teams facing Imola rain without tyre warmers

Formula 1 teams are facing the prospect of racing in the wet at this weekend's Emilia Romagna Grand Prix without tyre warmers.

In a sustainability push, F1's official tyre supplier Pirelli are introducing a new full Wet compound for the Imola race that is designed to avoid the use of electric tyre blankets.

Torrential rain over the last few days has caused severe disruption in the Emilia Romagna region, with widespread flooding causing power outages and leading to road closures.

Though the rain is said to ease up from Wednesday evening onwards, it is likely that the Grand Prix weekend will be run in wet conditions, which will test Pirelli's new compound to the limit.

"Starting from this Grand Prix, a new compound of full Wet tyre will be introduced which will not require the use of tyre warmers beforehand," said Mario Isola, Pirelli's Motorsport Director.

"Track tests have shown even better performance than the previous Cinturato Blue full wet, even without the electric heating of the tyre.

"The result of studies carried out by Pirelli, it is the first concrete step towards the use of dry tyres without preheating."

At the Imola weekend, Pirelli are also trialling a new rule mandating the use of every dry tyre compound in qualifying – though this will not apply if conditions are too wet for slick tyres.