Pérez attacks Pirelli: A “pathetic” excuse according to Hembery

While the beginning of the season has not been lacking in controversies of all kinds, the Pirelli tires have now been vehemently criticized. Indeed, Sergio Pérez, driving for Force India, launched a full-scale attack against Pirelli, the Italian firm accused of having taken too conservative an approach with the tires brought to Spain. Paul Hembery, the manufacturer’s competition director, was quick to respond.

An approach too conservative according to Pérez

Thus, when asked by Crash.net during a press conference if he found the season boring, Sergio Pérez responded: « [The season] is not boring, but the problem is that Pirelli is not helping us at all. »

At the center of most debates last season, culminating in the calamitous British Grand Prix and the explosion of five tires, Pirelli, who announced before the start of the season their intent not to find themselves in last year’s situation, is not spared by the Mexican: « It doesn’t help us attack, to enjoy driving. We have a lack of downforce on the cars compared to last season, but they also bring very hard compounds. I think they were a bit worried about the front graining. »

« When you look at the difference with GP2, I think it’s a bit embarrassing that the GP2 cars are so close to us with the budget they have. We have, at least, eight times the budget of a GP2 team, so being one to two seconds faster is a bit embarrassing, » he says, visibly annoyed.

He predicts this Sunday a very unexciting Spanish Grand Prix due to these too-hard tires: « Pirelli needs to be more aggressive with the compounds because on Sunday, you’re going to have a race where everyone follows each other, and it’s going to be a boring race, which is not good for the sport. »

But is it only the fault of the manufacturer in Milan, according to him? « No, I mean obviously we have a problem with downforce because we have less than last year, but I think the influence of the Pirelli tires is far too significant. With the compounds [they] brought, they are too conservative. You slide. So, when you’re following a car, it’s very difficult. »

Hembery sees a “pathetic” excuse

For his part, when asked about such remarks, Paul Hembery reacted strongly: It’s really pathetic as an excuse, quite frankly. They all have the same!

To the question of whether, in memory of the 2013 Spanish Grand Prix marked by Fernando Alonso’s victory with a four-stop strategy, the Italian firm has gone a bit too far in the other direction, the Briton defends: « No, we have not overreacted. We had to come into this season with a different approach; the cars are different, there is a lot of torque, so it’s not like we are changing everything during the year. We managed to do two testing sessions and you are not going to enter a season with everything being perfect for a brand-new car. »

Hembery continued, for Crash.net: « If we could change things during the year, if we had a choice of 12 compounds, then you could do a lot of other things. There are essentially three compounds—because the super soft is often for street circuits, generally—so you only have three compounds that have to cover track temperatures ranging from 50 to 15°C. Sometimes you’ll struggle and sometimes, like today, you’re in the window where everything works well, and that’s the nature of things. »

Alonso and Vergne on the same line as Pérez

Later, after this exchange, Fernando Alonso expressed his disagreement regarding a tire choice he also considers too hard for this circuit: « There wasn’t much grip on the track today, and overall, we struggled a bit more due to a series of factors, including the track being less rubbered-in than usual. Additionally, we have less aerodynamic downforce than in the past, and also, in my opinion, the tire choice here is too conservative for this circuit. »

On Jean-Eric Vergne’s side, a similar tone: « I think [the tire performance] is very weak. You look at the GP2 times… I was talking about it earlier with Jules [Bianchi] and he would have been sixth during the GP2 qualifications… Come on, come on. » He doesn’t put the blame on Pirelli even though he criticizes the choice of compounds: « No, it’s not Pirelli, but we would like to have more grip. We are sliding and losing the tires, so it’s not ideal for long stints. We have a hard compound and I think it’s a bad choice, […] that’s what I think. »