05/10/2013
NEWS STORY
After qualifying sixth for the Korean Grand Prix, Fernando Alonso has laid into Pirelli, claiming the Italian manufacturer's tyres cannot last five kilometres.
Watching his championship hopes fade and die, frustration clearly got the better of the two-time world champion, who has continually delivered results that flatter the F138.
Though he appreciates the same tyres are supplied to all eleven teams, the Spaniard hit out at their durability, or lack of it.
"If all the cars push one hundred percent from the start of the lap the tyres cannot do five kilometres, he told reporters. "If you push them, you finish the tyres. It's something that is not normal.
"We have to be honest," he continued, "the quality of the tyres is very on the limit. That they are not good we all see with our eyes. It's the same tyres for everybody, so it's a compromise we need to find."
"We are the third or fourth fastest team. It's what we've been in the last four years and I managed to fight for the drivers' world championship and we put Ferrari in second position in last year's championship," he continued, a comment that suggests his frustration is far deeper than the round rubber things on his car.
His complaints gained little sympathy from Pirelli's Paul Hembery. "Of course Fernando is one of the great F1 drivers, so to hear such comments is disappointing and below the standards you would expect from such a champion," he said "I can only suggest he goes to ask the soon-to-be four-times champion how to get the best from the same tyres."
Ouch.
Alonso: 0 - Pirelli: 1
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