[xenon]

How come then in F1 they're always balthering on about how when the cars are behind the safety car, brakes cool down, tyre pressures reduce and it's generally not a good thing. Brundle once remarked how the ride height differed by an inch between hot and cold tyres.

The thermal expansion coefficient between N2 and O2 is actually not that different and as air is 80% N2 anyway the difference is miniscule.

Certainly for aircraft it's to avoid moisture (icing) and so this lovely compressed air cannot feed a fire. I assume it was similar for F1 but I don't buy the temperature stability aspect.