Pirelli boss Paul Hembery has said that it is “disappointing” that the Pirelli’ F1 tyres have been criticised by drivers.
Speaking exclusively to Grand Prix Times Hembery pointed out that the current spec of tyres in F1 reflect what Pirelli was asked to produce by an F1 working group, which included all teams.
“It’s disappointing, because we were asked to do a certain work,” he said, “we were following what we were told to produce to assist Formula 1.
“Indeed you’ve had years of the most overtaking in the history of Formula 1.”
He explained also that all of the F1 teams were involved in creating this tyre spec – which has since been criticised for not allowing drivers to push to the maximum.
“When we came into the sport there was a working group where all the teams were involved, and they told us what they wanted. Interestingly they told us not to increase cornering speed – which is now what we’ve been asked to do! That’s how things change with time!”
More durable tyres are to be introduced to F1 for next season, based on what drivers had been advocating, and Hembery suggested that F1 could have got drivers’ views earlier.
“Maybe the sport could have asked the drivers what they wanted a bit earlier,” he said, “and then we could have had a testing programme over the last three years. We’ve had one day’s testing in three years, so we were very compromised.
“I think sometimes it gets lost a little bit the constraints within which we’ve been working. It’s not to say that what they’re [the drivers] asking is incorrect. Indeed we’re very happy they’ve had a good input into what we’re doing in the future going forward.”
Hembery also reflected on the challenges of explaining F1’s peculiarities to his own bosses at Pirelli.
“Certainly it’s a complex sport on many levels, yeah” he said. “Normally in business you decide if you have a problem you decide what it is and then you put a plan of action in to resolve it. It’s not all that straightforward in Formula One.”
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