Pirelli says it has cleared up matters with Mercedes driver George Russell after his criticisms of “infuriating” performance fluctuations between its different tyres.
Russell spoke out after the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in saying that Pirelli’s current products were not “good enough” because of the wild swings in pace.
Having struggled on the medium compound in Baku but then proved really strong on the hard as he grabbed a podium, Russell told the official F1 channel: “Honestly, it is actually pretty infuriating that it changes this much.
“It’s not just the Mercedes, it’s every team and every driver. One session, you’re fast, the next you’re not. And there’s only one thing that changes.
“It’s black magic. I think even the people who make the tyres don’t understand the tyres.
“I think we all need probably serious conversations again about what’s going on, because we’ve got 2,000 people working their butts off to deliver the fastest car.
“Twenty laps of the race, we had a car that was comfortable of fighting for victory, the twenty other laps we had a car that probably shouldn’t have been in the points – and the only difference is the tyres and it’s not good enough, really.”
Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images
In the wake of those remarks, Pirelli’s head of F1 and car racing Mario Isola sat down with Russell in Singapore to run through things – and explain why things had played out the way they did.
Speaking exclusively to Motorsport.com, Isola said: “I spoke with George and we had a nice chat together, because obviously I understand that in the heat of the post-race interviews, with the adrenaline that was still very high, he said something to the media.
“On top of that, we also did some investigation, as we usually do after every race, to understand the behaviour of the tyres.”
Baku answers
Having conducted some analysis of what happened in the Azerbaijan GP, Isola said there were a host of factors at play that contributed to the way Russell was so much better on the hard.
“It is true that the pace of George on the medium was not great, while on the hard he was much quicker,” added Isola.
“But we know that the pace is a combination of elements. The set-up of the car is really important, the track evolution is really important, and the way in which the driver is treating the tyre in the first couple of laps, that’s another very important element that in…
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