F1 teams will vote on December 9 about whether to keep or scrap Pirelli's proposed tyres for 2020.
Drivers tested the 2020 tyres recently in Austin, and complained that not only are they not better than this year's tyres, but that they are notably worse.
So now, several teams want to simply keep racing with the 2019 tyres.
"I find that a bit funny after all the complaints at the beginning of this season," Pirelli boss Mario Isola is quoted by Auto Motor und Sport.
"This tyre cannot be as bad as some people said it was."
The teams will get an even more substantial opportunity to try the 2020 tyres next week, at the post-grand prix Abu Dhabi test.
Then, on December 9, the teams will vote on whether to use the 2019 or 2020 tyres next year.
Only the Haas team, which has struggled the most on the 2019 tyres, is taking a strong position so far.
"We cannot make a fair conclusion after Austin alone," team boss Gunther Steiner said.
"We all agree that the 2019 tyres were not good for the sport. There was too much discussion," he added. "Sometimes they were too cold, sometimes they were too hot. The drivers complain. No fan understands this.
"The new tyres would have to be really bad for us to keep what we have now," said Steiner.
Moreover, Pirelli has warned that if the teams want to use the 2019 tyres next year on the faster 2020 cars, then tyre pressures will need to be raised.
Renault is apparently also leaning towards voting for the 2020 tyres.
"If the amount of grip is lower but the tyres overheat less and the working window is wider, that would be good for the racing," said Renault's Alan Permane.
Mercedes' Ron Meadows added: "For us, the differences in the (2019 and 2020) tyres was not so big."
body check tags ::
