23/03/2013
NEWS STORY
Mat Coch writes:
Lotus is gaining an unfair advantage from Pirelli. That, if one wishes to believe some of the sensational headlines elsewhere, is the true reason for the Enstone team's pace this season. How one can draw that conclusion from a single race is anyone's guess, but then again, there is one born every minute.
The rumour started in the German press with claims that some teams weren't happy that Lotus was fast, suggesting its links with Pirelli were a little too strong. It's a classic case of paranoid Formula One people playing conspiracy theories; putting two and two together to get seven. The problem is the media, which really should know better, has been lured into creating a sensational headline presumably to increase reader numbers.
While it is true Pirelli runs a heavily modified 2010 spec car, supplied by Lotus, the suggestion that the Enstone team is in any way advantaged by it is simply incorrect. At best it's a suggestion drawn with the longest possible bow while at worst its defamation.
Pirelli protects its testing data so that no individual team gains an advantage over another. To do anything but would be unfair and one would expect the FIA to tap them on the shoulder. Pirelli has nothing to gain by giving one team any advantage since it's guaranteed to win the race whatever happens.
Further evidence that there is no collusion with Lotus can be seen simply by looking at Romain Grosjean. The Frenchman has struggled to manage his tyres in comparison to teammate Kimi Raikkonen. If Lotus was at any sort of advantage it logically follows that both cars would benefit, even if Grosjean's doesn't have the latest tweaks like Raikkonen's.
The simple truth is that in Australia Lotus did a better job than anyone else, and won the race because of it. Conspiracy theories that Lotus and Pirelli are in cahoots are unfair, untrue and detract from the achievement of those in Enstone.