Vasseur defends Pirelli amid rain tyre criticisms
Frederic Vasseur has defended Pirelli after drivers slammed its wet weather tyres in Brazil, even as Ferrari particularly struggled on Sunday.
Max Verstappen, Isack Hadjar, Carlos Sainz and Lando Norris were among those criticising the rain tyres after a wet weekend at Interlagos.
But Vasseur believes Pirelli faces an almost impossible task with so little wet weather testing.
“They did a good job considering the limited number of test days they can hold on wet roads,” the Ferrari boss said.
“In the end, it’s only two or three days they can test under such conditions. You can’t expect them to have a tyre ready for all amounts of water and every type of asphalt.”
Ferrari’s own Brazilian GP was particularly disappointing.
“For sure it’s a lot about tyre temperature, and in certain phases of the race or certain conditions we are struggling more,” Vasseur admitted.
“When you have an issue with tyres, the effect or the impact is always much, much higher than the characteristic of the car, or the upgrade that you bring.”
With Mercedes now confirmed as constructors’ champions, Vasseur admitted Ferrari’s power unit remains a weakness despite improvements to the chassis.
“On the chassis side, on the grip limited side, we are more than performant,” he said.
“But yeah, for sure, congratulations to Mercedes.”
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