Sebastian Vettel defends Schumacher on Pirelli comments

Defending world champion, Sebastian Vettel has come to the defence of fellow German and mentor seven-time world champion, Michael Schumacher regarding Michael’s scathing comments on Pirelli tyres.

The Pirelli tyres have been the playmaker in deciding race winners, so far this season. Whoever have been able to conserve and operate the tyres in the correct temperature window have been successful. This has been observed at every weekend till now.

Australia – Sauber were very fast in the race as the C31 was very kind on the tyres.

Malaysia – Again Sauber were the fastest car in mixed conditions due to the car’s tyre-preserving nature.

China – Nico Rosberg’s was faster by more than half a second faster than anybody else before taking the pole position because track temperatures were dropping significantly during Q3 and the earlier one ran during the session, the faster, one was.

Bahrain – Kimi Raikkonen’s tyre saving during qualifying gave him four new sets of tyres during the race which gave him the opportunity to challenge Sebastian Vettel for the win.

The common consensus is that the tyres have really spiced up things and that is proven by the fact that the results have given us four different winners in the first four races and the last time this happened was way back in 1983.

But Michael Schumacher said, after the Bahrain Grand Prix that the Pirelli tyres have had a negative effect on the racing because the drivers are not able to push as hard as they could during those everlasting Bridgestone tyres era, and he is not satisfied that this is what Formula 1 is about – its more about going flat out on the track not thinking about anything else.

Sebastian Vettel has defended Michael’s statement by saying that the reports were a bit exaggerated. While speaking to the Sport Bild, he also said “Ultimately, we all have the same tyres, but of course as a driver you always want more grip, whether from the tyres or from the car. It is in our nature to want more – more especially than the others. When I talk about this with Michael, it’s not so dramatic. He has been around for a long time and has seen a lot, also when it comes to tyres. I don’t think he is so easily shocked”.