Vettel plays down Pirelli tyre change in Spain

Sebastian Vettel says Pirelli’s alterations to its tyres for the Spanish Grand Prix is “the same for all of us” amid accusations of the changes favouring Mercedes over Ferrari having seen the German manufacturer sweep to a 1-2 in qualifying.

Vettel lost his streak of pole positions to Lewis Hamilton and could only reach the front of the second row after Mercedes locked out the top two spots in qualifying for the Spanish Grand Prix.

While the gap from Vettel to pole-sitter Hamilton was smaller than two-tenths of a second, suggestions pointed towards Mercedes finding more performance from the revised Pirelli tyres for Circuit de Catalunya which have a reduced tread of 0.4mm, with the tyres also set to be used at the British and French races later this year.

After Friday practice Vettel commented on the Pirelli tyres being the “biggest change” Ferrari faced for the Spanish Grand Prix but has played down the impact of the tyre tweaks in terms of its qualifying performance.

“I think it’s pretty straightforward, the tyres are different but they’re different for everyone so everyone needs to cope with that,” Vettel said. “I think it was exceptional that Mercedes was struggling in the last events as much as they were, but thinner thread means basically the tyres are harder.

“We still have the same tyres if you look at the colours but they’re harder than they’re used to be. As I said, it’s the same for all of us.

“We expected Mercedes to be very strong and so they were. Hats off to them and tomorrow I think it will be a close race, anything can happen really just like the last couple.”

Vettel trails Hamilton by four points in the F1 world drivers’ championship after the opening four rounds despite winning two races compared to the defending champion’s one heading into the Spanish Grand Prix.