Berlin: Red Bull Formula One (F1) team owner Dietrich Mateschitz on Monday described the new Formula One tyres as a catastrophe.
In an interview with the Austrian news agency APA, the billionaire, whose Red Bull team last year won both the drivers' and the constructors' championship, was not impressed with the tyres, which this season are provided by Pirelli.
"You should not speak of a tyre revolution, it is more like a catastrophe," Mateschitz said.
The tyres disintegrate much faster than the Bridgestone tyres from last year, prompting Mateschitz to say: "It is true that much more will be left to chance."
World champion Sebastian Vettel expects between two and four tyre changes per race, but Pirelli motorsport director Paul Hembery dismisses criticism of the tyres.
"We were not asked to produce tyres that were stable and for which one needed only one stop per race," he told the German News Agency DPA.
Hembery also pointed out that all teams were using the same tyres, which is something that Mateschitz also noted ahead of Sunday's season-opening Australian Grand Prix.
"It is true that all teams have the same conditions and hopefully that will cancel out the element of chance," the Austrian said.
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