Max Verstappen does not like and criticizes Pirelli because of the C6 model tires that the Italian company supplied to the drivers for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, reports sportal.bg. This compound was developed for the beginning of this season with the idea of being used mainly on street tracks. In addition to Baku, it has also been used in Emilia-Romagna, Monaco and Canada, but in all three cases the C5 compound, which is more familiar to the teams and drivers, performed more stably not only in racing conditions, but also in one lap in qualifying.
This trend continued in Baku, where it was again clear that even in qualifying the C5 would be the more suitable tire. Verstappen, however, took pole position on the C6, but then criticized Pirelli harshly.
"In the end, I couldn't even use the tires I wanted because they had already done a lot of laps on the medium-hard. The only option left was a new set of softs, but this tire is slower. From the beginning of the lap, the feeling was worse, it's just mediocre. I think I'll have to have a conversation with Pirelli and tell them to just leave this tire at home because it makes the whole weekend very complicated. Until qualifying, we don't know how the medium-hard tires work, there's no point", commented Verstappen.
"Look, if the tire doesn't work here... It didn't work in Monaco, it didn't work in Imola and Montreal. Then there's no point in it", Verstappen added. The idea behind the C6 compound and its use was to push teams towards two-stop strategies. However, Verstappen believes that a better option would be to simply force drivers to make two pit stops, as they did in Monaco.
“I think it would be better if they just forced us to make two pit stops, rather than bringing in a tyre that is not faster at all. They could force us to use all three compounds in one race. That would be better than using a tyre that they claim is faster but is not,“ explained the four-time world champion.