Mercedes want "level playing field" regarding Pirelli tyre pressure
F1 News
- GPblog.com
Looking back on the tyre drama in Baku, which meant the end of practice for both Lance Stroll and Max Verstappen, Toto Wolff is on the side of Pirelli and against Red Bull Racing. The Mercedes team boss even goes a step further by suggesting the direct competitor was fiddling with tyre pressures.
"We just want to have a level playing field," begins Wolff, as quoted by Autosport.com. Despite Verstappen's tyres still being within Pirelli's predicted lifespan in Baku, the tyre failed on the straight and the driver lost control of the wheel at around 300 kilometres per hour.
Wolff agrees with Pirelli, who concluded after an internal investigation that Verstappen's blowout was caused by dirt and their own fault, and that the integrity of the hard compound in Baku was therefore not at fault. Wolff agrees, and even implies that Red Bull brought the drama on itself by tampering with the tyre pressures. Wolff: "If somebody is capable of extracting two or three pounds out of a tyre while it's running, there's obviously not a level playing field."
Mercedes not to blame
At the same time, Wolff also stresses that his team has always adhered to Pirelli's regulations: "We have always operated to the limits that were given to us by Pirelli, ... we were always on the right side of the of the legality question.”