04/09/2015
NEWS STORY
Just days after the drivers' union - the Grand Prix Drivers' Association - expressed its unease with the tyre failures suffered by Sebastian Vettel and Nico Rosberg in Belgium, drivers have been warned that in future they are not to express their concerns in public.
In the wake of his penultimate lap failure, Vettel launched a scathing attack on Pirelli, saying such failures must not be allowed to continue. Other drivers, including Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton, echoed his thoughts, which in time led to the GPDA wading in.
"As drivers, we strongly believe the end of a tyre's performance window can and should not be a tyre delamination in the form of an explosion," GPDA president Alex Wurz told BBC Sport.
"There are technologies which prevent such sudden delamination," he continued, "but for the short term we need to give Pirelli the freedom and support to introduce any measures they declare safe and fit for F1 racing. We request their utmost attention to the tyre blow-outs at Spa. We need to work together to get on top of such safety concerns."
Yesterday, Pirelli issued the results of its investigation in to Vettel's failure, the Italian manufacturer claiming that his tyre was damaged by track debris. At the same time the company called on the FIA to consider limiting mileage.
At the subsequent drivers' press conference, which was attended by both Vettel and Rosberg, the post-Spa anger had clearly subsided indeed, the drivers appeared reluctant to even discuss the matter, far less voice any fears for the coming weekend on the superfast Monza tarmac.
Today however, Bernie Ecclestone, having yesterday made the rare move of issuing a statement on the issue, in which he threw his support fully behind Pirelli, held a meeting with Vettel, Rosberg, Hamilton and Fernando Alonso, as well as Christian Horner, Toto Wolff and Maurizio Arrivabene.
Speaking after the meeting, Ecclestone admitted that the drivers had been told that in future any criticism they felt concerning the tyres - and presumably anything else - should be made well away from the media.
"If you sell me something, and it doesn’t work, I complain to the person I bought it from, I don’t complain outside," he told {i]Motorsport.com. "I want them to think, and if any of them have got problems, they should talk to the people that are making the problems. That’s all. They understand."
Whatever the rights and wrongs of the matter, if the drivers genuinely believe their lives are threatened, be it tyres or any other aspect of their job, they are duty bound to complain, especially at a time the sport is in mourning yet again following the death of a colleague.
Sadly, this gagging of the drivers pretty much sums up the current state of the sport, and confirms that the powers-that-be will continue to run it with a rod of iron, no matter what those putting their lives on the line, far less the fans, might think.
Check out our Friday gallery, here.