• German Grand Prix

Pirelli relief at safe race

ESPN Staff
July 7, 2013 « I must start beating Vettel - Alonso | Massa takes blame for spin »
The German Grand Prix saw plenty of on-track battles as different strategies came in to play © Sutton Images
Enlarge
Related Links

Pirelli motorsport director Paul Hembery said he was relieved the focus during the German Grand Prix was on tyre strategy rather than tyre safety.

Following the problems encountered during last weekend's British Grand Prix at Silverstone, Pirelli swiftly made changes to its tyres before the Grand Prix Drivers' Association threatened to boycott the race if any further issues arose. However, the race was notable for varied strategies delivering a close and exciting grand prix, and Hembery said he was pleased the focus was on the racing once again.

"The relief is obviously more that we're not talking about tyres for the wrong reasons," Hembery said. "It's a different type of race; it isn't anywhere near a Silverstone in terms of loading, it's the Spas and Suzakas where we get those challenges or going back to the Young Driver Test we're doing a lot of analysis there.

"But it's only seven days away so it's very fresh in everybody's mind. As you can imagine there was a lot of media interest this weekend and we're glad that we've been able to deliver a faultless race and a very enjoyable and exciting one."

Hembery added that the race could have been even more exciting from a strategic point of view without the safety car period as a result of Jules Bianchi's rolling Marussia.

"Probably if we didn't have a safety car it would have been even better to be honest, that sort of ruined what was coming together at the end there. We felt early on that some people had decided to go for a three-stop - like Ferrari very early on - with the safety car we were wondering if three-stoppers were going to go four and two were going to go three. Kimi charging down at the end it was just missing two laps really and we would have had an even bigger finale."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.
ESPN Staff Close