Romain Grosjean has called upon tyre supplier Pirelli to return to its pre-2014 specification tyres which degraded dramatically quicker than those in use this season.
Pirelli introduced high-wear tyres when it returned to the sport, but in anticipation of the new V6 engines, which put higher torque demands through the tyre construction, as well as better car performance, the Italian supplier made their compounds harder across the board.
According to Grosjean, that has reduced the difference a driver can make behind the wheel as it takes away a strategic advantage by saving tyres to use later in the race.
“It’s very different from two or three years ago where your driving style could influence the way you degrade your tyres, right now it doesn’t change much,” said the Lotus driver.
“I did prefer it when we had to think about it and when we could change the way it was degrading.
“That means if you took it a little bit slowly at the beginning of the race then you had an advantage over some of the other people, and you could try to go for an overtaking manoeuvre.”
He used a recent example at the Austrian Grand Prix to explain his point further.
“I was behind [Sergio] Perez at the beginning of the race, I was on super-softs and he was on softs, so I had an advantage over grip, but I couldn’t overtake him because every time I was trying to push to get closer I was overheating my tyres and was losing grip, so I couldn’t overtake.
“In 2012 and 2013 when they [the tyres] were degrading, they were getting into that bad shape of losing grip and the guy behind could take an advantage over it.”
He believes Pirelli’s move has taken away overtaking opportunities.
“I believe it creates overtaking chances, because there’s a grip level and if the guy in front of you has a big snap it gives you an advantage.
“Right now if the guy in front of you has a snap you usually have the same one so you don’t get the advantage anymore,” added the Frenchman.
“Everyone is always on the limit of them [the tyres] and when you follow another car you don’t really get that advantage anymore.”
