Red Bull Owner Joins Chorus Against Pirelli Tires

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owner Dietrich Mateschitz held a 45-minute meeting with Bernie Ecclestone after the Spanish Grand Prix and argues that Formula 1 has become too much about tire management and not enough about racing.

"Everyone knows what happens here. This has nothing to do with racing anymore. This is a competition in tire management.

"Real car racing looks different. Under the given circumstances, we can neither get the best out of our car nor our drivers.

"There is no more real qualifying and fighting for the pole, as everyone is just saving tires for the race," said Mateschitz in an interview after the race with Autosport.

Mateschitz says that given the current tires, the car would have to pit eight to ten times per race, if it was running at full performance. 

He is not laying the blame on Pirelli who are just doing as the FIA told them. Pirelli was asked to create tires that would give a certain number of pit stops for each race, and it has done that. The problem is the teams do not get enough tires in a race weekend, and it forces the teams to save tires for the race. 

"It was the target to get more excitement into the races by more stops for tire changes, but not that much. This is now a different situation from the original intention," he said.

Red Bull currently leads both the Drivers' and Constructors' World Championship, but after the fourth-place finish at the Spanish Grand Prix, Sebastian Vettel leads by just four points over Kimi Raikkonen. 

Source: Autosport