Trulli denies criticising Pirelli

2011 Malaysian Grand Prix

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Jarno Trulli, Lotus, Barcelona, 2011

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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    Keith Collantine
    Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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    25 comments on “Trulli denies criticising Pirelli”

    1. Sounds like Trulli is toeing Fernandes’ party line of talking the team’s chances up in the home race …

      1. mm, the idea of a Lotus T128 with a toe bar has made me chuckle ;)

        1. *towbar..

          Now a T128 with a Toe on the back… that’s monty python! :)

          1. Only now Danny Bahar will claim he thought of the idea and fit one to their car too.

    2. 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.

      1. But he doesn’t drive for the real Lotus????

        1. But he does…

          1. Yes he does…

            1. no one does.

            2. No one expects the real Lotus!

          2. No he doesn’t!
            Wait, I’m confused…

            1. You’re a Lotus?

      2. 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. :-)

    3. I noticed that Google Translate made the “non” disappear and the translated text actually changes the meaning of the sentence.

    4. 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.

    5. 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.

      1. 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.

        1. 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.

          1. But it isn’t surprising that in the age of Internet journalism, drivers often find they are misquoted deliberately.

            Well I hope that’s not aimed at me.

            1. Doubt it!

            2. How awkward.

            3. hahahaha.. yeah. ‘Awwwwwwkward’ *shuffles in seat*

              Ironically, Keith only quoted part of the comment in his reply ;)

              Just kidding Keith!!!

    6. 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.

      1. I did it for you above.

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