The Spanish Grand Prix saw Pirelli introduce a revised tyre design in order to combat the high tyre temperatures found in winter testing at the resurfaced Barcelona circuit. The special tyres will also make an appearance at the French and British Grands Prix, two tracks where high wear is also expected.
Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel spoke out against the changes, which he thought were influenced by other teams, but Mercedes boss Wolff hit back after qualifying, stating that an unaltered compound would not have had the required durability.
“Is bollocks a bad word in English? Rubbish. All teams have blistering, very heavy blistering at the test in Barcelona. Red Bull, Ferrari, ourselves. McLaren I think I have seen also.
“The tyres wouldn’t have lasted in the race. And the ambient and track temperatures [in winter testing] were Arctic. Baltic. For that reason Pirelli changed the thickness of the tyre to prevent the blistering. And they’ve been successful to prevent the blistering because we haven’t seen any on any car today.
“So I don’t know where suddenly this rumour comes out that we’ve been influencing Pirelli and the FIA to change any tyres. I have never seen anything work like that. Why should they do it?”
Less than 24 hours later, Lewis Hamilton swept to victory ahead of teammate Valtteri Bottas, giving Mercedes its first one-two finish of the 2018 season. Is it a coincidence, general performance improvements from the team, or something stronger? Let us know what you think.
