Following the British Grand Prix there was a slight mumble of a driver boycott heading into this weekends German Grand Prix.
The talks remained pretty quiet, but drivers such as Ferrari’s Felipe Massa refused to rule it out, while McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh also understood the position after a chaotic, farcical and dangerous race at Silverstone.
The most outspoken driver following the race was Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton, of course he is quite often the most outspoken driver but on this occasion it was with just cause.
The Brit suffered his rear tyre blow out whilst in the lead of his home Grand Prix, he still battled back to finish fourth despite extensive damage to the flooring of his car but the tyre failure cost him the race which was eventually won by his team-mate Nico Rosberg.
Including Hamilton there was four high speed tyre blow outs and seven over the course of the weekend, Hamilton called for the FIA to make immediate changes to the regulations to allow Pirelli to make changes and that’s what they’ve done.
Hamilton stopped short of any talk of a boycott, but did hammer home the point about safety and that action should be taken before someone is hurt.
This weekend will see new tyres in use, which had been previously tested in Canada and suggested for the British Grand Prix, only for some teams to block the move.
Hamilton will hold judgement on the changes, telling the BBC: ‘It’s still a concern. We’ll see how the weekend goes but I’m sure they’ve taken the right steps to make it safe, I am satisfied, but only when we get there will we have a better idea how it is for us, Everyone is in the same boat, but I’m glad action has been taken.’
But Sauber driver Nico Hulkenberg believes the tyres will be fine after he attended the meeting of the F1’s Sporting Working Committee at the Nurburgring.
Hulkenberg represented all the Formula One drivers at the meeting and he will pass on the information to his fellow drivers at the Grand Prix Drivers’ Association meeting later today.
However speaking to the press including Sky Sports, he suggested that the drivers will be satisfied by the changes that will be made for the German Grand Prix and beyond.
‘I have no bad feelings going into this weekend now,’
‘I think Pirelli’s changing the belt for here, which should be safer. They’re pretty certain about that and then I think, after that, there will be another step for Hungary, some new tyres introduced, which should be super-safe.’
