Lando Norris has criticised Pirelli’s Formula 1 tyres following the restart carnage that unfolded at the Australian Grand Prix.
Many drivers struggled to generate temperature ahead of the final restart of the race, which took place on the penultimate lap following a red flag period.
Carlos Sainz spun around Fernando Alonso, Logan Sargeant collided with fellow rookie Nyck de Vries and the two Alpines retired after coming together at Turn 2.
Lance Stroll also ran wide at Turn 3 after locking up while struggling with temperatures and the race was stopped again.
“It invites risk,” Norris said, speaking about the restart.
“Nothing against them, but the people who make decisions don’t know what’s going on inside the car.
“We have a Soft [tyre] on that’s 65 degrees and I can’t describe how little grip there is on track.”
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, who emerged from the race as the winner, stated that F1 created the problem themselves by restarting the race.
Norris says that if Pirelli’s tyres were better formulated to produce better grip in such conditions, the audience would’ve been treated to a stronger racing spectacle.
“It’s not a bad temperature but the tyre doesn’t work and, on this surface, with this track temperature, I can’t describe how bad the grip is,” he said.
“That’s why you see everyone going straight on at Turn 1 and locking up. But it’s 65 degrees on the soft tyre, and it provides literally no grip.
“So, you have to brake early which causes chaos and causes incidents.
“If the tyres felt like they gave us some grip, we’d be able to see a good race without chaos and some clumsiness and things like that, but it’s just difficult.
“I wouldn’t say it’s just clumsy from everyone; it’s just you’re racing and there’s no grip, it’s simple as that.
“So, we need a tyre which gives us some more grip and actually a tyre that feels like it should be on a Formula 1 car at the top of motorsport. And at the minute, on a day like today, it feels pretty terrible.”
Discussion about this post