• Valencia Test

Concerns remain over Pirelli tyres

Pirelli tyres stacked up and ready to use © Sutton Images

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While Pirelli bosses said they were generally happy with the outcome of the first round of testing at Valencia, some of the drivers were more cautious about the new tyres.

A number of those who drove on them maintained a diplomatic approach, but others were more open.

"Of the compounds available, some were more consistent than others," Michael Schumacher told Auto Motor und Sport. "I had some awkward moments on the track when I was on tyres that I had not been on for long. It was like driving on ice. [But] I think they are still in the testing phase and that they will deal with the situation well."

Robert Kubica, who set the fastest time on the final day, said: "Let's say they have quite big degradation so it will be very important to manage them better and maybe change a bit of the set-up in order to make them last longer and extract more performance from them."

Fernando Alonso, the quickest on Wednesday, was another with worries. "The tyres degrade a lot, they are not very consistent at the moment and we are very limited in terms of the number of tyres as well," he said. "You have to keep one set of tyres for the whole morning, and then maybe put one [set] for half of the afternoon and one at the end. It's difficult to make set-up changes and to really get an answer at the moment on those."

But Paul Hembery, Pirelli's motorsport director, said the conditions in Valencia were too cold to allow for any accurate assessment.

"We have to remember that all tyres wear out, which is something some people seem to have forgotten in the last few days," he said. "Some teams here have had a new car, some last year's car. It is very early to draw conclusions.

"You can't react to just one comment otherwise you'd be accused of making changes or wanting to assist one particular person or team. So you have to take a dispassionate view of that and take an overall picture of where you are at."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.