WRC participants criticize Hankook winter tires

After the winter tires of Hankook were criticized by the participants of the World Rally Championship (WRC) at the Monte Carlo stage, the Korean company, which is currently the only tire manufacturer in the racing series, plans to introduce an updated version of snow and ice tires next year, reports Motorsport.

The extreme weather conditions made the Monte Carlo Rally the most difficult in over a decade, as teams had to compete on tracks covered with snow, ice, and slush. Even a year earlier, when the race was held mainly on dry asphalt, drivers were already expressing concern about Hankook's winter tires, and the company, in agreement with the FIA, made some improvements, but this time the drivers again criticized the tires for not being good enough at removing snow slush and providing the necessary traction.

"I've never seen anything like this in my life, the tires are just terrible, it's incredible," said Sebastien Ogier, adding that "for me, it's unacceptable to get such a product at the world championship after we've been talking about it for a whole year, and all that's been done is cutting the tread by a centimeter."

Hankook confirmed that after last year's Monte Carlo Rally, they are developing completely new winter tires, but they did not have time to prepare them for the 2026 race, and now they should be introduced in the next season.

"I think that since a lot of snow fell and a lot of slush formed, the conditions were very difficult overall, and it's completely obvious that our winter tires can't work optimally in such a situation," admitted Hankook representative Stephen Cho. "We probably could have expected something like this, so we put a lot of effort into improving the tire's characteristics, but the conditions with snow and ice are extremely specific, given the short season. We're always optimistic about our prospects, but we also always knew it wouldn't be easy. The world champion's comments were very harsh, but we understand that. We take them constructively and will move forward."

According to him, the tires were modified somewhat in the off-season, but "it's clear that we haven't achieved the desired result yet, so the drivers still have tough tasks ahead of them."

Hankook is confident that the new winter tires will be much more reliable in extreme conditions. "We're practically newcomers here in Monte Carlo: this is our second rally here, and we really hope that next year we can achieve a much better result that will satisfy the drivers," said Manfred Sandbichler, Director of Motorsport at Hankook's European division. "We hope that the conditions will be similar to those this year, and we can demonstrate the progress we've made - that's our ultimate goal. We've completed testing, but the problem with snow and ice tires is that we have very little time to test them, and that makes development extremely difficult and time-consuming."