Romain Grosjean has said that he is not happy with Pirelli attributing its tyre failures in Spa to cuts from debris, and hinted that others would feel the same way.
Pirelli confirmed on Thursday in Monza that its investigation into the failures in Belgium of Nico Rosberg’s tyre in practice and Sebastian Vettel’s in the race had concluded that they, and other cuts to tyres experienced by drivers that weekend, were explained by an “exceptional combined effect of debris on the track and prolonged tyre usage on a circuit that is particularly demanding.”
Speaking to the media earlier in the day though Grosjean indicated that he is not happy with Pirelli’s explanation and the cause of the failures.
“I don’t think anyone is happy with the fact that it’s a cut. Seb [Vettel] didn’t go off track, there are kerbs and you can use them, so no I don’t think it’s a good explanation.”
He added though that he is not seeking to blame Pirelli and expressed sympathy for the Italian supplier’s predicament.
“It’s very hard for Pirelli to replicate what we are asking for the tyres when they don’t have a current car and some testing to develop their tyres,” he said. “There is no finger-pointing and no one to blame particularly.”
In the drivers’ press conference after Pirelli’s announcement the drivers there generally were not critical of Pirelli, although Felipe Massa also sounded unhappy that debris was part of the explanation of what happened in Spa: “Debris we have every race. Some races we have more debris than others. For sure, the tyres should be strong enough to accept the debris or what we have beside the track. I don’t think it’s [cuts are] common [in general]. We had cuts as well during the weekend.”
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