F1 | Marko shoots down Mercedes: "They asked them to change the tyres"

Heavy criticism from Helmut Marko towards Pirelli regarding the choice to change the compounds for the last Spanish Grand Prix. In an interview given to Bild, in fact, the Austrian revealed how Mercedes has pressed the Italian company for a modification of the tread, so as to reduce the phenomenon of blistering.

A choice that led not only to Ferrari's collapse in the race, but also to a non-performing Red Bull during the last GP in Barcelona. According to Marko, in fact, 0.4 millimeters changes the behavior of a car on the track, a factor that the Austrian manufacturer itself pointed out during discussions on a possible change. The political power of the world champion Scuderia, however, did not allow Dietrich Mateshcitz's team to prevent a change of this type, pushing Pirelli towards a choice that affected the performance in Catalonia.

Here are the words of Helmut Marko: “You don't have to be a genius to understand that if you remove 0,4 millimeters from a tire they change behavior, becoming more difficult to manage. This is why other teams managed to go faster than us. The compounds were changed at Mercedes' request and I'm not even that surprised by this. We are talking about a car manufacturer, while we produce energy drinks, how could we ever oppose decisions of this type?”.

“These are pressures that you can only afford to do when you are both team and producer”he concluded.