|
 The Italian company said in a statement at the Japanese Grand Prix
that it had no say over which tyres were allocated to whom, or when
they were used.
Mercedes were eclipsed by rivals Ferrari and Red Bull in qualifying
in Singapore, after Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg had taken pole
position in all 12 previous grands prix, and also in the floodlit
race won by Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel.
Some of the more extreme theories circulating within the paddock
after qualifying and the race wondered whether Mercedes might
somehow have been given different tyres to their rivals to slow them
down.
Even Mercedes motorsport head Toto Wolff admitted to a momentary
doubt: "For a moment I thought 'Have Pirelli given us a different
tyre to the others?'" reports quoted the Austrian as saying.
"I’m not saying that it happened, just that I thought it," he added.
In a statement explaining how the tyres are marked at their Turkish
factory with embedded and traceable bar codes that cannot be
swapped, Pirelli said their process was designed to be tamper-proof
and random.
"Once the production run for each grand prix is finished, the Izmit
factory sends a list of the bar codes to Pirelli's logistics and
distribution hub at Didcot in the United Kingdom," the Italian
manufacturer said.
[to top of second column] |
"There, Pirelli's system randomly groups the bar codes into blocks
of four, comprising two rears and two fronts, which will make up a
tyre set. This list of blocks is then sent to the (governing) FIA.
"The FIA subsequently allocates blocks of bar codes -- and therefore
sets of tyres -- to each individual car at random," said Pirelli.
Motorsport head Paul Hembery added: "Deciding which tyres are
allocated to which teams, or when they are used, is a job taken care
of entirely by the FIA once the tyres have left the factory.
"It is just another way that impartiality can be ensured among all
the teams, which has always been a huge priority for us as exclusive
tyre supplier."
(Reporting by Alan Baldwin, editing by Amlan Chakraborty)
[© 2015 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
Copyright 2015 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 |
