Perez: Pirelli hard tyre only good for 'pictures'

With Daniel Ricciardo having suggested ahead of this weekend that the compound was ‘too hard’ for the Circuit de Catalunya, Perez has backed up his Australian rival that teams will steer clear of it.

“I think the hard will be just for the picture, basically,” said Perez in Spain on Thursday. “We will not use it at all.”

Ricciardo said a few days ago: “I'm not sure if it'll help us or not but I just don't think it's going to be good for anyone. The tyres are already hard enough so the harder compounds are just way too hard.

"Hopefully for Barcelona's sake it's hot and therefore these harder tyres work, but if it's cold then it's going to be a struggle for everyone."

Perez also suggested that there were doubts about the use of the medium too, which will need hot conditions to get into the right operating window.

“Maybe with the rougher tarmac, with an aggressive track, it is very different to Russia with the higher track temperatures," the Mexican added. "So maybe, maybe, maybe, it can work. But too many maybes.”

In the end, Perez reckoned that Pirelli should have picked its softest tyres for this weekend – and could even have got away with the ultrasoft.

“I would have definitely have gone for supersoft, at the very least,” said the Force India driver. “We could have gone even to the ultrasoft around here.”

Haas driver Romain Grosjean agreed that the tyres could have been softer.

“We used the ultra soft in winter testing and it wasn’t that bad,” said the Frenchman.

“[Sebastian] Vettel did 25 laps on them, so we could have had supersoft, soft and medium. Plus the tyre prescription pressures are particularly high as well.”