Pirelli: “Teams must be prevented from changing tires after the red flag”

Pirelli has called for a change to the red flag rules in Formula 1 to prevent teams from changing tires if a race is stopped. The request comes after the disappointment of fans who were unable to witness a grand finale for the Monaco Grand Prix yesterday.

The battle for victory in Monte Carlo hung between Sebastian Vettel, Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button in the closing stages of the race, with all three on track with tires that were at very different stages of their wear.

But when everyone was already expecting the attacks of Alonso and Button, and therefore an exciting finish to the race, the battle was avoided by the red flag, due to the accident involving Vitaly Petrov.

With the restart of the race everyone is authorized to change tires and therefore the result has become practically a given, with the top three classified in procession until the checkered flag.

Pirelli Motorsport director Paul Hembery thinks the freedom to change tires has robbed fans of a fun and exciting race finish – and believes the rules need to be tweaked to prevent teams from changing tires if there's a flag red with restart in the final stages of a race.

“I can understand there is a safety issue but I'm thinking more from a fan's perspective, to be honest,” Hembery told Autosport.

“I think many have asked themselves what's the point of changing tires with six laps to go. I don't understand the rule, and maybe we need to ask the teams what they think."

“Overtaking is difficult here, so the different strategies, one, two or three stops, made the race intriguing,” Hembery said.

“I think it was a bit of a shame the red flag, of course, because if they hadn't changed the tyres, then they could have fought to the end because they were all on different strategies, and the tire wear was very different.”

“It's unfortunate that we weren't able to see what the best strategy was.”