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Formula 1 racing fans and the sporting media are up in arms over the issue of tyre degradation but Pirelli says it’s just doing what we asked them to do

Formula 1 Grand Prix weekends ceased being true sporting events decades ago. Ever since Bernie Ecclestone and the FIA decided to play up to the millionaires who inhabit the paddock at any given race, it became a commercial enterprise that just happened to provide a bit of gladiatorial racing action on a closed-off piece of tarmac.

It’s a truism of Formula 1 that the richer you are, the less likely you have to pay to attend the race. Rich and important people (and sometimes the media) get in for free and watch the race while sipping champagne and eating steak in the Paddock Club or sponsor hospitality suites while the millions of true fans who paid exorbitant ticket prices have to make do with plastic seats on concrete stands and eat RM30 stone cold hot dogs.

Somehow, such an imbalance hasn’t affected the popularity of the sport but to keep the masses happy, the illusion of real racing has to be kept going. So, despite the ethos of Formula 1 being a contest of the best drivers in the best cars going head to head against each other, the reality is there are artificial controls put in place to keep technical advances in check.

After Colin Chapman invented ground-effect cars in 1977 with the Lotus 78, others quickly followed suit but cornering speeds became so fast they banned the skirts that were critical for keeping a car glued to the road. Refuelling was made popular when Brabham pioneered in-race pit work in 1982 but by the 1984 season, cars had to run the entire race on a single tank of fuel. Williams conquered the sport with its active-everything FW15C in 1993 (it had active suspension, ABS, traction control, fly-by-wire controls, pneumatic valves, power steering and even the option of a CVT) but by 1994 most of the driver aids were banned (though anti-Schumacher fans will claim otherwise).

This brings us to 2013 and the current Formula 1 season. Without a doubt, the number one talking point has been the Pirelli tyres the cars are using. Charged with making Formula 1 races more exciting affairs, the Italians have seemingly created tyres that start chucking off bits of rubber if you accidentally sneeze on them. With only seven sets of tyres allocated per driver each weekend, there is a severe lack of action during Friday practice and even on Saturday for qualifying. Each race has also seen a massive rise in the number of pit stops as teams have to continually change their degraded rubber.

Inevitably, there are now calls for Pirelli to change their tyre compounds to make them longer lasting. Red Bull Racing in particular has been vociferous in its protests saying they can’t use their cars to its full potential with Mark Webber backing up the statement by saying he’s driving to only 80 per cent of the limit.

Well, boo-hoo to Red Bull Racing. The current Red Bull RB9 has been widely hailed as the fastest Formula 1 car in 2013 because Adrian Newey and his boffins have somehow yet again managed to create a car with the most amount of downforce. More downforce equals more grip around corners and therefore higher cornering speeds, but the current Pirelli tyres don’t allow the RB9 to exploit its advantage as they would disintegrate from the increased cornering forces. Hence why Red Bull are complaining, loudly.

The call for a change by Pirelli has been taken up by fans and the motorsports media, who are complaining the tyres are now the ultimate limiting factor in the sport, but they forget that making hardier tyres just plays into the hands of Red Bull Racing. It would allow them to better use their car advantage and limit any chance of winning from title challengers Lotus and Ferrari.

For all the criticism levelled at them, the tyres used in 2013 have delivered an element of excitement and uncertainty that wasn’t always there. It means Kimi Raikkonen has a chance to be world champion because his Lotus is kinder on its tyres and he can run a race with less pit stops. It means Fernando Alonso has the opportunity to make up for his error in Malaysia and car trouble in Bahrain because his Ferrari is able to exploit every last ounce of grip from its tyres without ruining them in five laps. It also means that Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull Racing can’t run away with the championship.

The fact the defending champions have built a car that uses its tyres too aggressively is nobody’s fault but their own. While others have taken a more conservative route to winning races, Red Bull now has to ask for new tyres because they didn’t fully account for tyre life when it was being designed. It’s a bit like Michael Phelps asking for full body suits to be reintroduced to competitive swimming because his training regime was designed for racing with them on instead of in his swimming shorts.

Pirelli motorsports boss Paul Hembery says his company was asked to spice races up by making its tyres perform in a defined performance window and now they’re being criticised for delivering what was asked of them. There will be changes by the Canadian Grand Prix, with Pirelli hoping to cut the number of stops down to two, but they have also said they expect it won’t really affect the current running order.

The last word then should go to Paul who has a parting shot for his critics. "What do you want us to do? You tell us, we will do it." Perhaps Formula 1 fans should be careful about what they wish for.