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Pirelli feels criticism 'very unjustified'

Paul Hembery believes the treatment Pirelli has received could put off other companies from investing in Formula One © Sutton Images

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Motorsport director Paul Hembery believes a lot of the criticism aimed at Pirelli so far this season has been "very unjustified".

Having struggled with tyre issues throughout the season, Pirelli was unable to make changes to its tyres until after the problems experienced at the British Grand Prix. However, speaking to ESPN during an exclusive interview, Hembery said a number of board members at Pirelli had been left unhappy at the treatment the company has received.

"I think for a large part of the season - and let's take out Silverstone from that - then we feel it's been very unjustified a lot of the comment and it's made a lot of people unhappy," Hembery said. "People have wanted to use our name and sully our name for their own personal gain and that's unacceptable. But anybody seems to be able to say anything today in Formula One, there's no check and balance, people aren't looking at the bigger picture and there's too much self-interest.

"That's something that people really need to have a good hard look at because there might be a lot of people looking at the way that we've been treated and thinking 'We don't want a bit of that, imagine us in that situation'. So you have to be careful, we're a big company and as I say we want to stay in Formula One, we're trying everything we can to do the best job we can but we'll be around.

"In other forms we've been involved in motorsport for 110 years - that's longer than any of the Formula One teams - and we'll be in motorsport probably for another 100 years when they've all gone, so we'll carry on."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.