Pirelli delivers tire ultimatum

Pirelli chairman Marco Tronchetti Provera met with Bernie Ecclestone in Abu Dhabi to make it clear that if Formula 1 wants to avoid taking away tire strategy intrigue in 2014 then it would need to impose a mandatory two-stop requirement into the regulations.

The company is frustrated that it has spent the last three years following a request to deliver multiple stop races while facing ongoing criticism from some teams and drivers.

Pirelli has lost patience with complaints that it thinks are unjustified, and says it will now do only what it is explicitly required by the regulations rather than what has been requested privately.

Pirelli motorsport director Paul Hembery said: "We just want to be told what to do.

"We want a clear input and it clearly defined, because the characteristic [of criticism] this year is that people have maybe forgotten what we were asked to do.

"That has got lost somewhere in the passage of time, and that is the important thing that we want to make sure is resolved. Somebody needs to tell us what they want to do."

Teams are reluctant to support a move for mandatory two-stop races, because of fears that drivers will all stop on the same lap.

When asked what would happen if the teams, the FIA and Ecclestone did not impose any specific requirement in the rules, Hembery said: "I guess what will happen is that we will take a very cautious approach and we will end up with one stop [races] after this year.

"We have seen a few things that have made us think that we need to take a step back, and we would end up with a one-stop, which is maybe not what the sport wants.

"But somebody needs to tell us what the input is."