Pirelli has rejected the reported complaints of some Formula 1 teams that too few tyres were available during winter testing.
Each squad had 80 sets at their disposal made up of the five different compounds available for 2019, meaning the equivalent of 10 per day.
However, in what was a completely dry and warmer eight days of running than certainly a year ago, it was claimed teams had to limit running because the tyres had lost their performance.
“It [the number of sets] was reduced because the number of test days were reduced," Pirelli F1 chief Mario Isola explained. “In proportion, it’s the same number of sets they’ve had for the last 10 years, probably.
“Obviously this year with these good weather conditions and with the cars that are very reliable, all the teams had the opportunity to run a lot more than in the past.
“But I don’t think that the number of sets is not enough.”
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In fact, in addition to the 80, each team had two sets of a development C3 tyre on hand and was also permitted to carry up 10 sets over from the first week of running.
“They started the [second] test with 42-50 sets for four days,” Isola continued.
“Consider that they are also running a lot of race simulations, and you run a lot of kilometres with the same sets of tyres.
“Obviously you need a higher number of sets when you make a qualifying simulation, but I feel they are not running out of sets of tyres, honestly.”
