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For the first time in almost three decades, four different cars – McLaren, Ferrari, Mercedes and Red Bull – have won the opening four races of the season, while others – Lotus and Sauber – have displayed potential winning pace.<\/p>\nPirelli is getting the credit – or the blame – for F1’s unstable pecking order so far in 2012.<\/p>\n
For the first time in almost three decades, four different cars – McLaren, Ferrari, Mercedes and Red Bull – have won the opening four races of the season, while others – Lotus and Sauber – have displayed potential winning pace.<\/p>\n
“The explanation is Pirelli — it’s the tyres,” Swiss commentator and former F1 driver Marc Surer told Austrian television Servus TV.<\/p>\n
“It’s been a question of who can make them work, and that is depending on a number of factors.”<\/p>\n
Some cars, for example, require the tyres to be running hot and working hard before they deliver their pace, whilst others only find the ‘sweet spot’ in cold conditions.<\/p>\n
For most, however, it’s just a mystery.<\/p>\n
“We know we were slow (in Bahrain) but we don’t understand why,” revealed Melbourne winner Jenson Button.<\/p>\n
Publicly, teams like McLaren are hailing the invigorated ‘show’.\u00a0 Privately, they may be looking back ruefully on the Bridgestone era.<\/p>\n
“Bridgestone made great tyres that could hold on for the whole race,” Surer continued.\u00a0 “The only tension was when the two at the front were going to pit.<\/p>\n
“Now, there is a stress factor that has been produced by the tyre company.\u00a0 Sometimes, maybe, it’s a bit too much.”<\/p>\n
Vitantonio Liuzzi, the former HRT driver, doesn’t agree with Surer’s final point, nor Michael Schumacher’s claim that Pirelli needs to rethink its approach to making F1 tyres.<\/p>\n
“The tyres are not blowing up, they are not blistering and it’s always a challenge for both drivers and engineers to set up the car properly and get the maximum out of them.<\/p>\n
“A tricky situation,” he told gocar.gr.\u00a0 “We have to give thumbs up to Pirelli for the work they have done.”<\/p>\n
It is on Liuzzi’s point about the situation being “tricky” that F1 team bosses completely agree about.<\/p>\n
“The challenge is how to use the tyres, how to set up your car,” said Mercedes’ Norbert Haug.<\/p>\n
Agreed Red Bull’s Christian Horner: “I think this year the tyre has dominated performance and I think it’s crucial to try and understand how they work.”<\/p>\n
“It’s clear,” Lotus’ Eric Boullier added, “that the key for performance is the tyres.”<\/p>\n
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