The Lotus F1 Team has said that they feel it would be unfair for Pirelli to make changes to their tyre compounds after the latest spat of complaints.
A number of teams have voiced their frustration at the more fragile and less durable 2013 Pirelli tyre range due to their struggles understanding and working with the them.
Last weekend's Spanish Grand Prix was evidence of the high tyre wear. Most teams had predicted a three-stop race but had to revert to a four-stopper after they found the tyres to degrade quicker than first thought.
The likes of Lewis Hamilton and the two Red Bull drivers lost ground due to their struggles but in contrast Kimi Raikkonen and Jenson Button progressed through the field after finding the sweet spot with the tyres, managing the expected three visits to the pit lane.
Ferrari were the only team not to change tack, going for four stops from the get go and enabling both drivers to push more during the race. Hence why it worked for them and not for the others.
Lotus Team Principal Eric Boullier has admitted that he feels it would be unfair on the teams who have got to grips with the tyres if Pirelli were to make changes in response to the complaints from some teams, drivers and fans.
Talking to Autosport he said "I think it is not in some ways fair, but we have to deal with it like we always did, before adding that everyone is in the same boat, but the Enstone squad have just made the best of it. "Everyone has the same tyres, people need to get the right question."
And what is that question? "The question is not the tyres: it is because we did something that allowed our car to [look after the tyres]." He feels that the complaints should be directed more at the teams not being able to sort out their woes rather than at Pirelli themselves.
He later added that he feels Pirelli have done the job that was asked of them. "It is the same for everybody. There was some slight change for here [to the hard compound] which was to please the most complaining teams.
"But I don't think Pirelli is going to change anything. They were asked to build tyres lasting 20 laps and they did it. So that is it."
They may have lasted 20 laps for Lotus, but they didn't for most of the field and Pirelli's Paul Hembery admitted after the race that four pit stops was never the aim.
"Our aim is to have between two and three stops at every race, so it's clear that four is too many: in fact, it's only happened once before, in Turkey during our first year in the sport."
Hembery, who is their Motorsport Director, added that the Italian firm will be looking to make changes and cite Silverstone as their target to make them by. "We'll be looking to make some changes, in time for Silverstone, to make sure that we maintain our target and solve any issues rapidly."
How severe the changes will be is not yet known but the tyre debacle has been on-going for some time now. It's fair to say that Pirelli will never please everyone but for not it seems they are fighting a battle that they can never win.
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| (c) Lotus F1 Team |
Last weekend's Spanish Grand Prix was evidence of the high tyre wear. Most teams had predicted a three-stop race but had to revert to a four-stopper after they found the tyres to degrade quicker than first thought.
The likes of Lewis Hamilton and the two Red Bull drivers lost ground due to their struggles but in contrast Kimi Raikkonen and Jenson Button progressed through the field after finding the sweet spot with the tyres, managing the expected three visits to the pit lane.
Ferrari were the only team not to change tack, going for four stops from the get go and enabling both drivers to push more during the race. Hence why it worked for them and not for the others.
Lotus Team Principal Eric Boullier has admitted that he feels it would be unfair on the teams who have got to grips with the tyres if Pirelli were to make changes in response to the complaints from some teams, drivers and fans.
Talking to Autosport he said "I think it is not in some ways fair, but we have to deal with it like we always did, before adding that everyone is in the same boat, but the Enstone squad have just made the best of it. "Everyone has the same tyres, people need to get the right question."
And what is that question? "The question is not the tyres: it is because we did something that allowed our car to [look after the tyres]." He feels that the complaints should be directed more at the teams not being able to sort out their woes rather than at Pirelli themselves.
He later added that he feels Pirelli have done the job that was asked of them. "It is the same for everybody. There was some slight change for here [to the hard compound] which was to please the most complaining teams.
"But I don't think Pirelli is going to change anything. They were asked to build tyres lasting 20 laps and they did it. So that is it."
They may have lasted 20 laps for Lotus, but they didn't for most of the field and Pirelli's Paul Hembery admitted after the race that four pit stops was never the aim.
"Our aim is to have between two and three stops at every race, so it's clear that four is too many: in fact, it's only happened once before, in Turkey during our first year in the sport."
Hembery, who is their Motorsport Director, added that the Italian firm will be looking to make changes and cite Silverstone as their target to make them by. "We'll be looking to make some changes, in time for Silverstone, to make sure that we maintain our target and solve any issues rapidly."
How severe the changes will be is not yet known but the tyre debacle has been on-going for some time now. It's fair to say that Pirelli will never please everyone but for not it seems they are fighting a battle that they can never win.
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