Mercedes boss Toto Wolff says Formula 1 should ignore the strong criticism and introduce the new Pirelli tyres for 2021.
Last Friday in Bahrain, the Italian supplier gave drivers two sets of the C3 compound they expect to use next season to test during practice.
However, commenting afterwards, Lewis Hamilton blasted the tyres as heavy and slow before questioning how Pirelli could keep getting their products so wrong, something Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel agreed with.
“They were not a step forward, the opposite pretty much,” he evaluated.
“Probably worth a shot but I hope we don’t see these tyres again. They’re probably quite a lot worse compared to the tyres we currently run.”
Also Read:
However, Pirelli motorsport boss Mario Isola played down those complaints.
“We can understand that not all drivers were positive about these tyres because this setting of the cars was the one expected for the normal 2020 tyres,” he said via RaceFans.
“For Pirelli, the results we got from the tyres are positive because we bonded them to a better resistance, considering that the performance of the cars is increasing and increasing and these tyres – the actual tyres – are old by two years.
“Now it’s a question of setting the cars to exploit them the best and we are quite positive that the drivers can find them much more drive-able after that.”
The Pirelli chief also thinks the dusty circuit played a significant role.
“The track was quite slippery today, as every driver has much underlined. So this was also the situation: Drivers found it particularly difficult to find the best way to develop them considering that the car setting was not the one that is necessary to have the best from these tyres.”
It was then Mercedes boss Wolff also backed the introduction of the new tyres next year by citing the number of failures that have been seen this year.
“The current tyres will never provide the integrity and robustness to cope with the ever-increasing aerodynamics. Integrity and safety come first,” he told Motorsport.com.
“We need to avoid accidents like we’ve had this year and that’s why we just need to support Pirelli.
“These cars have generated more downforce than ever expected and it has been increasing every single year. So Pirelli needed to react.
“Lance Stroll’s accident in Mugello was certainly frightening, and there was Max [Verstappen]’s DNF in Imola. Then we were just on the edge finishing a race twice with Lewis.
“Therefore coming up with a product that is more robust, and that means more heavy, is the only solution to that and I think that’s why it’s understandable that Pirelli just followed the process that was being asked for.”