Pup wrote:While I'm sure the sport will survive without tire warmers, I've never understood the drive to get rid of them. They can't be that expensive, relative to everything else the sport spends money on.
And if it is about the money, I've never understood is why the teams don't sell ad space on them. They're one of the few things in the race almost guaranteed to get at a few seconds' close up shot on camera.
The drive to get rid of them is purely about improving the racing.
This kills the undercut (see my post above), and changes the whole pit strategy dynamic to something less uninteresting, because of the short-lasting effect of cold tyres after a pit stop.
Money-wise you're right, the warmers are basically nothing in the budget of a F1 team.