And while a lot of ink has been spilled on this topic in the international media for the past couple of months, Ferrari's Stefano Domenicali sees no reason to join the “criticizing club” less than a week before the season opening Australian Grand Prix. While admitting the new tires are a lot different from their Bridgestone predecessors, in a sense that they wear out faster and will lead to altered race strategies in the sport, the Ferrari boss reckoned there's only one way to tackle the problem: deal with it.
“If the tires have a different degradation, it is because it is a different product, so you must react,” Domenicali told Sky Italia recently, according to a report from the GMM news agency. “Who has known how to react better at first will have a competitive advantage.”
“This is a logic that applies to everyone from the drivers to engineers,” he added, while concluding that rather look for excuses, the Scuderia must “work, develop and improve” with the cards they are dealt with.
Pirelli developed the 2011-spec tires with one important goal in mind, namely to ensure multiple-pit stop races through the new campaign. However, as some results in recent testing have shown us, the difference between lap times from one compound to another can differ by up to 7 seconds, while some compounds (super-soft, for example) wear out after only a couple of laps.
Recently, the International Automobile Federation (FIA) ruled to allow Pirelli to use some practice sessions this season for testing purposes, as tire development (under the circumstances) will become crucial throughout the year.
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