‘Don’t change anything’, F1 teams tell Pirelli

The first four races of this year’s Formula One season have been invariably followed by murmuring about the tyres used, most recently from Red Bull Racing, who despite a Vettel victory in Bahrain called for Pirelli to change its tyres for the remainder of the season. But in an interview with Reuters, Pirelli motorsport director Paul Hembery claimed that the “vast majority” of teams implore the tyre maker not to change anything.

“We’ve had the vast majority of teams come to us and say ‘whatever you do don’t change anything’,” Hembery told Reuters at the Bahrain Grand Prix. He added that while changes may be made do the tyres if Pirelli sees a need for this, he shared that the teams have told Pirelli “don’t change even if you are getting this media coverage.”

And although Pirelli has yet to re-sign its F1 supply contract, which expires after the current season, there is nothing to indicate dissatisfaction from the race organisers. Bernie Ecclestone voiced his approval of the Pirelli rubber’s role in bringing team strategy and driver skill to the forefront. “What is good about this is that it really comes back a little bit to what it used to be when the guys had to look after their brakes and gearboxes and things like that,” he commented to Reuters.