Red Bull: F1 too focused on tyres

The rampant discussion behind the scenes and in the media over whether the tyres should be changes has caused a divide amongst teams, with the deciding vote split at five to five, not the majority seven needed to effect a change.

Multiple teams in the pit lane have struggled with the newer tyres, not helped by the apparent mastering of the new rubber by Mercedes, a factor that has only increased the reigning champions' dominance this season.

The Red Bull chief explained that the recent discussions into reverting to the old 2018 specification of Pirelli tyres resulted in a disappointing rebuff, as F1 will continue on with the 2019 spec of tyres.

“It puts Pirelli in a slightly difficult position," he is quoted by Crash.Net.

"They’re doing a decent job, they’re going to win every race, the tyres are surviving on the cars, and they’ve got to maintain their safety record.

While a reversion to the older spec tyres would have suited the likes of Red Bull and Ferrari, Pirelli claims that the change would be first available to teams at the Mexican Grand Prix in October this year at the earliest.

“At the risk of being slightly controversial we would quite happily accept the 2018 tyres to come back. I don’t think the risk is as great as some perceive.

“It is about creating a show and I think we almost have to take a step back and take a slightly less team-centric position and turn around and say ‘well, if it would be better for the show, could the teams cope with it’ and our opinion is yes, we could.

“We accept there has been a majority vote not to do so but we hold a slightly different view to the majority then.”