Lando Norris tears into 'TERRIBLE' Pirelli tyres after Australian GP controversy and issues savage putdown

Lando Norris

Norris tears into 'TERRIBLE' Pirelli tyres after Australian GP and issues savage putdown

The McLaren racer believes the current specification does not belong 'at the top of motorsport' due to its poor grip

Dan Davis

Friday 7 April 2023 11:54

Lando Norris has criticised Pirelli's Formula 1 tyres and insists they do not belong "at the top of motorsport" in an impassioned rant.

Drivers faced a constant fight to generate temperature during the Australian Grand Prix, a race punctuated by three red flags and several incidents, leading the McLaren driver to take aim at the "terrible" lack of grip.

Kevin Magnussen making contact with the wall brought out the second red flag on Sunday, handing teams the chance to switch to fresh soft tyres ahead of the third standing start on lap 56.

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However, the race was again brought to a halt after the restart following chaos at turn one. Fernando Alonso had spun after being struck by Carlos Sainz, while both Alpines wiped each other out and Logan Sargeant careered into Nyck de Vries.

Speaking to the media following the drama, Norris, who finished sixth, tore into the current specification.

On the stewards and their decision to opt for the red flags and standing starts, he said: "Nothing against them, but the people who make decisions don't know what's going on inside the car.

"We have a soft [tyre] on that's 65 degrees [Centigrade] and I can't describe how little grip there is on track."

Poor grip causing incidents

He then added: "It’s not a bad temperature. But the tyre doesn't work and on this surface with this tyre temperature, I can't describe how bad the grip is.

"That's why you see everyone going straight on in turn one and locking up. It provides literally no grip, so you have to brake so early, which causes chaos and causes incidents."

Lando Norris described the Pirelli rubber as "terrible"

Irate Norris seemed to imply that the current tyres are not up to the required standard.

"If the tyres felt like they gave us some grip, I think you'd be able to see a good race without chaos and some clumsiness and things like that," he said. "It's just difficult.

"I wouldn't say it's clumsy from everyone. It's just you're racing and there's no grip, as simple as that.

"We need a tyre that gives us some more grip and actually a tyre that feels like it should be on a Formula 1 car at the top of motorsport and at the moment, on a day like today, it feels pretty terrible."