Jarno Trulli denied criticising Pirelli in a column for Italian newspaper La Repubblica two weeks ago.
Speaking in today’s FIA press conference the Lotus driver blamed a “completely wrong translation” for stories claiming he complained about the change in tyre characteristics between the final test and first race of 2011.
Trulli said: “I actually said that Pirelli did a very good job for Australia.
“We didn’t expect to have problem with the tyre warming up, but actually we didn’t have degradation. I think one driver did a one-stop strategy, which, during the winter testing, was completely out of mind.
“For the Australian Grand Prix the tyres behaved completely different and extremely well for the experience we had during the winter testing.
“The only thing that I pointed out is that some people struggled for tyre warm-up, which was the case for several drivers. This showed that we still have a lot to learn, from a drivers and teams point of view, of the Pirelli tyres but as well Pirelli is trying to adjust themselves and trying to give us the best possible option.”
Read Trulli’s original column (in Italian) here.
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Prisoner Monkeys (@prisoner-monkeys)
7th April 2011, 14:05
Sounds like Trulli is toeing Fernandes’ party line of talking the team’s chances up in the home race …
Hare
7th April 2011, 22:07
mm, the idea of a Lotus T128 with a toe bar has made me chuckle ;)
Hare
7th April 2011, 22:09
*towbar..
Now a T128 with a Toe on the back… that’s monty python! :)
andy c (@)
8th April 2011, 13:44
Only now Danny Bahar will claim he thought of the idea and fit one to their car too.
RIISE (@riise)
7th April 2011, 14:08
Trulli was complaining about the tyres in Winter testing. The criticism then was more about convincing Pirelli to make them degrade less which is fair enough. A set of tyres lasting 7-8 laps is ridiculous.
I hope Trulli can knuckle down and try to get a good result for the “Real” Lotus (Ha!!) this weekend.
Steve
7th April 2011, 14:12
But he doesn’t drive for the real Lotus????
fordsrule (@fordsrule)
7th April 2011, 14:14
But he does…
Fixy (@)
7th April 2011, 14:25
Yes he does…
F1iLike
7th April 2011, 16:40
no one does.
summers
8th April 2011, 0:12
No one expects the real Lotus!
Cacarella
7th April 2011, 15:17
No he doesn’t!
Wait, I’m confused…
Mike
7th April 2011, 21:22
You’re a Lotus?
andy c (@)
8th April 2011, 13:45
jarno complaining about something? I find that hard to believe.
I’ve never heard him complain about anything other than his own driving and consistency before…hiccup. :-)
Icthyes (@icthyes)
7th April 2011, 14:10
I noticed that Google Translate made the “non” disappear and the translated text actually changes the meaning of the sentence.
King Six
7th April 2011, 14:16
Well all it takes is someone who is proficient in Italian to translate what the newspaper wrote and find out for real. I dunno, Trulli is still well and firmly in the camp of “Old moaners who do nothing and would do the sport a favour by retiring and letting in fresh new blood” alongside, of course, Rubens “please think of my children” Barrichello.
BasCB (@bascb)
7th April 2011, 14:21
Please one of our regulars who is good in Italian have a look at this Italian version.
Personally I think its just a case of Trulli realizing he overstepped the corporate mark and now correcting.
Fixy (@)
7th April 2011, 14:35
The most important thing is that all results, positive or negative, have a common cause: Pirelli tyres. They left us all wondering. I don’t mean that they were better or worse than we expected. I mean that they were completely different, like if they had completely changed them since the last Barcelona tests. We all worked hard during the winter with rapidly-degradating tyres. It was their characteristic. There were polemics, and we thought the problem was going to be to make them last long enough, but here in Melbourne we found tyres that had no degradating problems. But they struggled a lot to reach the correct temperatures and that stops us from reaching the best performance.
Oliver
7th April 2011, 16:48
Trulli just said Pirelli changed the tyres which took them by surprise. He expected the tyres they tested to be the ones they’d race.
But it isn’t surprising that in the age of Internet journalism, drivers often find they are misquoted deliberately.
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
7th April 2011, 16:51
Well I hope that’s not aimed at me.
Mike
7th April 2011, 21:27
:D
AndrewTanner (@andrewtanner)
7th April 2011, 21:38
Doubt it!
RIISE (@riise)
7th April 2011, 21:53
How awkward.
Hare
7th April 2011, 22:10
hahahaha.. yeah. ‘Awwwwwwkward’ *shuffles in seat*
Ironically, Keith only quoted part of the comment in his reply ;)
Just kidding Keith!!!
AndrewTanner (@andrewtanner)
7th April 2011, 21:39
Seems a bit daft that his comments could get mistranslated in an Italian Newspaper!
Oh well, I wasn’t there and nor could I begin to translate the article.
Fixy (@)
7th April 2011, 22:20
I did it for you above.