Lewis Hamilton has called on Pirelli to create substantially softer tyres for the 2019 F1 season to encourage drivers to make more pit stops during races.

The Mercedes driver says the tyres need to be several stages softer than those being used this year. He also urged F1’s official tyre supplier to use the thinner gauge rubber which appeared at the Spanish, French and British rounds to reduce blistering.

“I’ve really got to keep pushing Pirelli because the tyres feel great here but this whole one-stop business is just ridiculous,” said Hamilton, who was quickest in both of today’s practice sessions.

“Next year I reckon they’ve got to go three steps softer. Swing them all lower so we have to do at least two stops per race.”

Out of the 16 races so far this year, 13 were won by drivers who used one-stop strategies.

“It’s going to make it a little bit more challenging, and more grip, naturally as you go to softer compounds. And then the thinner gauge so you have less of the thermal blisters that we see and maybe we can be able to follow and have more racing.”

Pirelli softened its tyre range for 2018 and introduced the new hyper-soft tyre to encourage more multiple-stop tyre strategies. However motorsport director Mario Isola said earlier this year teams have become so good at managing tyre degradation they can usually make their rubber last long enough they only need to pit once.

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2018 F1 season