Minardi Boss Slams Tyre Rule

Minardi owner, Paul Stoddart, has singled out the Formula 1’s new tyre rule for criticism. Running tyres for a whole race distance creates additional concerns he explained. “I’ll tell you what, if there is a serious accident, and I sincerely hope there isn’t, the person who brought this regulations in will be totally responsible,” Paul Stoddart told the Australian Sports Entertainment Network. “And it wasn’t any of the teams.”

There is still some confusion as to what will happen during the races themselves. If a driver is able to wear a tyre to the point that the carcass is visible, then it is likely that the tyre would be allowed to be changed on the grounds of safety. However, it remain unclear as to what will happen if a driver pits with tyres that have excessively warn patches.

“The teams did have an opportunity to resist these changes and they couldn’t agree on which or all of them they should reject, so in the end the FIA just brought them in,” Mr Stoddart continued. “As I said before, they’ve brought them in in what is an irregular procedure that is deemed to be necessary in the times of extreme accidents. These regulations exist so that emergency legislation can come in, but it certainly wasn’t called for as only three out of the 10 teams agreed, as they needed to do, that the cars were too fast in the first instance.”