Mateschitz: “Nobody understood how tires work”

Dietrich Mateschitz, the owner and founder of Red Bull, expresses all his concerns about the impact that tires are having on Formula One.

Tire degradation certainly helped liven up the championship, with five different drivers from five different teams winning the first five races: an event that hadn't happened since 1983, when F1 had elements such as mandatory refueling and tire changes every half the race. However, drivers who won a race two weeks earlier cannot find themselves fighting for seventh place, as happened to Sebastian Vettel in Spain. Mateschitz has weighed in on the issue and, although he is happy that F1 has become exciting, he criticizes the fact that it has become a gamble, in which those who are lucky enough to get the right tires win.

“F1 is more exciting and more unpredictable than ever”, the Austrian tycoon told the monthly Autosport. “Obviously, this situation was caused by the rule changes before the start of the season, the top teams got closer in performance. I have always had faith in the potential of our RB8 and I still have, without a doubt. But everyone has to learn how to win in F1 again. It has become a sort of lottery, in which you have to discover the window in which a tire works. And I don't think this was created on purpose to create more overtaking and tension in the races. I guess no one really understands these tyres”, concluded the head of the world champion team.

Lorena Bianchi