Paffett: BMW won manufacturers' title with "worst car"
Mercedes driver Gary Paffett reckoned BMW took the manufacturers' championship despite having the "worst car" of the three DTM marques in 2015.
Photo by: XPB Images
Paffett used BMW's title as an example of how the newly-introduced performance weights system skewed the results this past season.
"Performance weights are a big subject [of discussion]," he said to Motorsport.com. "No offence to BMW, but they won the constructors' championship with the worst car this year - so, you know, it doesn't really tell the full story."
BMW sat last in the manufacturers' championship when the weight ballast was introduced by promoter ITR.
Over the remaining seven rounds, the average weight of a BMW car stood at 1109.6kg, well below the basis weight of 1120kg. Mercedes, meanwhile, clocked in an average of 1123.8kg, while Audi topped the list at 1127.2kg.
BMW scored 52 percent of its season points haul in just two of the rounds - Zandvoort and Oschersleben, where most of the marque's cars weighed the minimum allowed 1105kg.
However, while saying performance weights played a big role in deciding the constructors' crown, Paffett insisted the drivers' championship, won by teammate Pascal Wehrlein was a lot more representative.
"The drivers' championship does tell the full story," he added. "The guy who won it - Pascal - did the best job of everyone all year.
"The guys in second and third - Jamie [Green] and Eki [Mattias Ekstrom] also did a great job - the drivers' championship is more relevant I think.
DTMDA to propose rule changes
Paffett is adamant that DTM's Driver Association shoud play a part in any adjustments made to the DTM rulebook for 2016.
"As drivers, we know what we want," said the Briton. "Also, I think we have a really good idea of what improves the show for fans and things like that. I think that's what we need.
"[DTM] needs to have exciting racing, it needs to be fun for the fans to watch - but it still needs to have the best driver in the best team winning the race and that's the balance we need. To have the best person winning still, while giving the fans excitement.
"A few things that could do with being ironed out. There's a few things that us drivers have been working on.
"Now we have to speak to the DMSB and ITR and try to get our points across - and try and make some changes. Relatively small things."
Interview by Sergey Bednaruk
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