Pirelli: Vettel tire change shouldn’t have been allowed

Paul Hembery, Motorsport Director for Pirelli, has echoed the sentiments of many by saying that tires should not have been changed during the red flag period in Monaco on Sunday. Taking advantage of a generally unfamiliar regulation, Sebastian Vettel was able to coast to victory in comparatively easy fashion at the final restart.

“I can understand there is a safety consideration but I am thinking about it more from a fans' perspective, to be honest," Hembery told Autosport. “I've had a lot of people shout at me from the boats around the harbor and say, ‘Why were they allowed to change?’

“It took away something from the race and the big question was: could they have lasted? That’s what we were all asking with six laps to go and that was going to be the excitement – would Sebastian (Vettel) have hit the cliff?

“We don't really understand the rule and maybe we need to ask the teams why they think they should be allowed to change tires."