Michael Schumacher has criticised Pirelli for the way in which their tyres degrade during a race, which means drivers are forced to race conservatively.
The Mercedes driver couldn’t make the progress he had hoped to make in Bahrain after starting 22nd. He finished tenth, but said the tyres were the limiting factor.
“The tyres obviously played a large part in the race today, and in the conditions here, we had to adapt the driving style to keep the tyres together,” he said after the race.
“The main thing I feel unhappy about is that everyone has to drive well below a driver’s, and in particular, the cars limit to maintain the tyres.
“I just question whether the tyres should play such a big importance, or whether they should last a bit longer – and that you can drive at normal racing car speed and not cruise around like we have a safety car.”
The seven-time world champion says it’s unacceptable for Pirelli to construct tyres which limit the car’s and driver’s performance and says they should think about changing them in the future.
“I’m not happy about the situation, lets see what happens in future. If it would be a one-off car issue, then you could say it’s up on us to deal with it. But basically it is everybody with maybe one or two exceptions. And if it is 80 per cent of the field that has this problem, then maybe the tyre supplier should think about that.”
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