Pirelli plays down Raikkonen criticism

Pirelli has played down reports that Kimi Raikkonen is unhappy with F1’s new generation of wet weather tyres.

The Finnish driver was at the wheel of last year’s Ferrari when Pirelli began testing at the artificially-watered Paul Ricard track on Monday.

Afterwards, he was quoted as saying he preferred the 2015 wets.

"Kimi tested various prototypes," Pirelli’s racing manager Mario Isola is quoted by the Finnish newspaper Iltalehti.

"As far as I know, he was happy. He did not see big differences to the previous tyres, which is of course not a surprise," he added.

As the Paul Ricard test ended on Tuesday, Isola was also asked by reporters about claims the F1 drivers’ representative body GPDA is pushing for Pirelli to produce dry-weather tyres that corner considerably faster.

He said Pirelli is capable of producing tyres like that.

"We have always said that we want to do what F1 asks us to do," said Isola.

"If we have to produce tyres with degradation, we focus on that. If we have to produce long-lasting tyres, we focus on that."