The latest auto news, reviews, prices, product and vehicle releases. Jul
5th
Stay connected Subscribe to our RSS feed
From GMM
F1's tire-gate saga has taken another dramatic twist, as drivers formally threaten to boycott the German grand prix.
The Grand Prix Drivers' Association (GPDA), led by Ferrari tester Pedro de la Rosa, warned at the Nurburgring that drivers will pull out of the Nurburgring round if there are signs the tire-exploding crisis seen at Silverstone has not been solved.
"The drivers have decided if similar problems should manifest themselves during the German GP, we shall immediately withdraw from the event," read the statement.
The GPDA said it believes the entire problem has been "avoidable", which is surely a dig at F1 and Pirelli's deliberate move to supply tires designed to degrade quickly.
At the very same time, leading F1 drivers Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button were expressing their intention to stay away from the forthcoming Silverstone test.
"I have absolutely no intention of attending," Ferrari's Alonso is quoted by La Gazzetta dello Sport.
Germany's Auto Motor und Sport says teams will only be able to field race drivers on one of the test days, with rookies needing to drive at other times as originally intended.
And speculation about a fourth test day was ruled out.
Alonso, however, insisted he doesn't want to test at all. "Ferrari will have to force me," he said.
"I'm not a Pirelli test driver. The decision to test experimental tires at the track where there was a tire problem is a decision that I believe is extremely dangerous," Alonso said.
"This season the tire supplier hasn't made the best decisions," the Ferrari driver, who said being hit by the shards of metal tire debris last weekend at Silverstone "would be like a bullet or a knife", added.
McLaren's Button agreed that he doesn't want to run at Silverstone.
"Only one type of tire is going to be tested, which - for me - is not a tire test."
Alonso's teammate Felipe Massa, however, told Brazil's O Estado de S.Paulo newspaper he wants to do the test.
"I think it's important," he said. "I'm always in favour of testing, and I think it's important to have experienced drivers (there)."
Drivers and teams are also hitting back at Pirelli's claims it was the practice of using extreme tire pressures and cambers that caused the problems at Silverstone.
"McLaren stuck within the correct boundaries of what Pirelli told us to do and we had two failures on our car," said Button.
Mercedes' Ross Brawn has said the same, and Spain's Marca newspaper reported that Sauber also followed Pirelli's guidelines but had a failure.
Felipe Massa, meanwhile, said the fact rear tires have been fitted the wrong way around may also not be an explanation.
"I had problems in Bahrain and they (the tires) were mounted right," he said.
Sauber's Esteban Gutierrez said: "Not just Pirelli is to blame, and not just the teams are to blame. I think we have to work together rather than blaming one another."
But Jenson Button also questioned Pirelli's decision to supply new tires this weekend in Germany, before switching to yet another construction in Hungary.
"I don't know why it is necessary (to change again in Hungary) if these tires are fine," said the 2009 world champion.
Watching the tire crisis from the outside, former Mercedes director Norbert Haug sympathised those who are trying to fix the problem.
"Modern formula one is ungovernable," he told Bild newspaper. "People only care if they see an advantage for themselves."
Former F1 driver Mika Salo also observed: "Silverstone was really unsafe, but the rules were the cause of it -- Pirelli wanted to change (tires beforehand) but they couldn't," he told the Finnish broadcaster MTV3.
Whatever the case, it is possible the move to kevlar-belted tires at the Nurburgring will shuffle the pecking order.
"Possibly," admitted Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton, while teammate Nico Rosberg said a shakeup is "very likely".
Mika Salo agrees: "Change always favours someone."
Fernando Alonso, meanwhile, has the final word.
"At the moment, the priority isn't about the performance of one team or another," he said. "The most important thing is that everyone gets back to their own bed safely on Sunday night."
F1's tire-gate saga has taken another dramatic twist, as drivers formally threaten to boycott the German grand prix.
The Grand Prix Drivers' Association (GPDA), led by Ferrari tester Pedro de la Rosa, warned at the Nurburgring that drivers will pull out of the Nurburgring round if there are signs the tire-exploding crisis seen at Silverstone has not been solved.
"The drivers have decided if similar problems should manifest themselves during the German GP, we shall immediately withdraw from the event," read the statement.
The GPDA said it believes the entire problem has been "avoidable", which is surely a dig at F1 and Pirelli's deliberate move to supply tires designed to degrade quickly.
 |
| Photo: WRi2 |
At the very same time, leading F1 drivers Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button were expressing their intention to stay away from the forthcoming Silverstone test.
"I have absolutely no intention of attending," Ferrari's Alonso is quoted by La Gazzetta dello Sport.
Germany's Auto Motor und Sport says teams will only be able to field race drivers on one of the test days, with rookies needing to drive at other times as originally intended.
And speculation about a fourth test day was ruled out.
Alonso, however, insisted he doesn't want to test at all. "Ferrari will have to force me," he said.
"I'm not a Pirelli test driver. The decision to test experimental tires at the track where there was a tire problem is a decision that I believe is extremely dangerous," Alonso said.
"This season the tire supplier hasn't made the best decisions," the Ferrari driver, who said being hit by the shards of metal tire debris last weekend at Silverstone "would be like a bullet or a knife", added.
McLaren's Button agreed that he doesn't want to run at Silverstone.
"Only one type of tire is going to be tested, which - for me - is not a tire test."
Alonso's teammate Felipe Massa, however, told Brazil's O Estado de S.Paulo newspaper he wants to do the test.
"I think it's important," he said. "I'm always in favour of testing, and I think it's important to have experienced drivers (there)."
 |
| Photo: McLaren F1 Team |
Drivers and teams are also hitting back at Pirelli's claims it was the practice of using extreme tire pressures and cambers that caused the problems at Silverstone.
"McLaren stuck within the correct boundaries of what Pirelli told us to do and we had two failures on our car," said Button.
Mercedes' Ross Brawn has said the same, and Spain's Marca newspaper reported that Sauber also followed Pirelli's guidelines but had a failure.
Felipe Massa, meanwhile, said the fact rear tires have been fitted the wrong way around may also not be an explanation.
"I had problems in Bahrain and they (the tires) were mounted right," he said.
Sauber's Esteban Gutierrez said: "Not just Pirelli is to blame, and not just the teams are to blame. I think we have to work together rather than blaming one another."
But Jenson Button also questioned Pirelli's decision to supply new tires this weekend in Germany, before switching to yet another construction in Hungary.
"I don't know why it is necessary (to change again in Hungary) if these tires are fine," said the 2009 world champion.
 |
| Pirelli prototype tire. (Photo: McLaren F1 Team) |
Watching the tire crisis from the outside, former Mercedes director Norbert Haug sympathised those who are trying to fix the problem.
"Modern formula one is ungovernable," he told Bild newspaper. "People only care if they see an advantage for themselves."
Former F1 driver Mika Salo also observed: "Silverstone was really unsafe, but the rules were the cause of it -- Pirelli wanted to change (tires beforehand) but they couldn't," he told the Finnish broadcaster MTV3.
Whatever the case, it is possible the move to kevlar-belted tires at the Nurburgring will shuffle the pecking order.
"Possibly," admitted Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton, while teammate Nico Rosberg said a shakeup is "very likely".
Mika Salo agrees: "Change always favours someone."
Fernando Alonso, meanwhile, has the final word.
"At the moment, the priority isn't about the performance of one team or another," he said. "The most important thing is that everyone gets back to their own bed safely on Sunday night."