McLaren’s operations director Simon Roberts thinks Pirelli tyres puzzle will crack – Formula 1 news
McLaren’s operations director Simon Roberts believes it is still too early to say that the top Formula 1 teams have got the hang of the 2012 Pirelli tyres and will be able to command the remainder of the season. While admitting that it is only a matter of
time before that happens.
The Pirelli compounds have been a major impact on the sport since its induction in 2011. The compounds have had mixed reactions from drivers, as some have been able to get the hang of it and others have found it very difficult to understand.
Within the McLaren team Jenson Button has found it difficult to handle the Pirelli tyres while his team-mate Lewis Hamilton has not had any issues with the tyres in 2012.
Michael Schumacher is another driver who has had trouble with the Pirelli tyres and has blamed the compounds as one of the reasons behind his poor showing. Although Pirelli have denied that the compounds have anything to do with Schumacher’s poor show but
it is clear that they have had an impact on the sport and have led to teams strategising for different venues, weather conditions and pit stops to best utilise the tyres.
Speaking to Vodafone McLaren Mercedes phone-in, Roberts said that Hembery’s assessment on impact of the tyres was probably premature but admitted that the top teams would eventually be able to figure out the mystery behind the compounds.
“We're very conscious when we make changes to the way we do things that you can inadvertently increase the level of risk or just get people slightly out of position,” Roberts said. “The guys on the race team did a huge amount of work on trying to refine
the pitstop strategy and even the way we approach qualifying.”
“I think we were fairly pleased in Canada and hopefully we've turned a corner. We're not planning anything different going forward. We think it's now pretty stable, so no big changes and hopefully we'll just consolidate what we've been doing and keep it
in the sweet spot,” he added.
It will be interesting to see how the teams cope with the Pirelli tyres as the season progresses.
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