Pirelli has hit back at yet more criticism that their tyres are now the dominant factor in deciding the outcome of a race.
Mark Webber was the latest driver to comment on the quick-wearing rubber following practice in Malaysia.
“The whole category is geared around tyres at the moment,” he said. “Everything is around tyres. Tyres, tyres, tyres, tyres, tyres…”
Pirelli motorsport director Paul Hembery, who has somewhat gotten used to the criticism, says it’s the same message from the past two seasons, but things begin to balance out as the teams get a better understanding of the tyres.
“To be honest, you can take the quotes from the last two seasons and, in the first three races, it is exactly the same,” he is quoted as saying by Autosport.
“There tends to be a phase at the start of the year and, after six to eight races, it all changes.
“If we look back at the type of comments that you had at the start of the year when everyone is trying to find out where they are, and how to maximise the combination of chassis and tyre performance, it tends to start like this.
“But then it starts to move away when people get used to it.”
He defended their strategy of creating faster degrading tyres which has resulted in more exciting racing.
“We had the most exciting Melbourne in years. Do you want us to make boring races?”
