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Eric Boullier has revealed Lotus is "a little disappointed" with Pirelli's decision to change its 2013 tyres mid-season. Amid the media furore and the complaining of prominent teams like Red Bull and Mercedes, F1's official supplier announced that it will revert to elements of last year's tyre design for the Canadian grand prix next month and beyond.
But Lotus boss Boullier stressed that only "some teams" actually welcome the changes "because it can help their performance". Indeed, teams including Lotus and Barcelona winner Ferrari were happy with the existing Pirelli tyres.
"Unlike Red Bull," Boullier told France's Canal Plus, "who have a policy of developing the car based solely on aerodynamics, we are among the teams like Ferrari, who took into account the Pirelli factor when designing the car. So we're actually a little disappointed by this change," he admitted. "I don't know a lot of other sports where, let's say in football, they decide to increase the size of the goals in the middle of a season," said Boullier.
Similarly, Pirelli's test driver Jaime Alguersuari argues that there is nothing fundamentally wrong with the 2013 tyre, praising drivers like Ferrari's Fernando Alonso who "understand the tyres where others do not". "I don't see the drama," the Spaniard told the sports daily AS. "When Vettel was winning in 2011 it was like this, but when things go well, you don't complain."
"What is happening now is that a few understand the tyres while others do not. So there is Alonso with Ferrari, and also Raikkonen and Lotus (who understand). It happened to me in 2011," former Toro Rosso driver Alguersuari continued. "I had a horrible start to the year, but from mid-season we began to understand the behaviour of the compounds." (GMM)
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