Criticism from certain teams plus growing complaints from some sections of the media and fans have led Pirelli to announce that they will change the tyres from the Canadian Grand Prix onwards. The new range is set to combine elements from the 2012 and 2013 tyres with the aim of having both durability and performance but what will the real consequences of the change be?

Red Bull owner, Dietrich Mateschitz is the latest to wade into the Pirelli discussion after watching Sebastian Vettel struggle to a fourth place finish in Spain. According to Autosport, the Red Bull boss was locked in a 45 minute private discussion with Bernie Ecclestone and then followed this up with scathing comments about Pirelli’s tyres.

Another strategy driven race, this time it was Ferrari and Fernando Alonso who surprised many with a four-stop race which allowed them to push the tyres to their limits and comfortably hold-off the three-stopping Lotus of Kimi Raikkonen.

Go back to 2011 and everyone seemed to be in love with Pirelli. It was a season that featured entertaining race after entertaining race, for the first half of the year at least, even if the championship itself failed to live up to their heights. Now, four races into their third season since returning to Formula One, the relationship seems to have cooled, with a growing group criticising the tyre supplier. So what has changed?

A fairly straight forward win for Sebastian Vettel saw all the interesting stuff happening behind him – sound familiar? Adopting the favoured strategy of three stops for hard tyres after starting out on the medium compound, it was interesting to note that the next four finishers all deviated from this approach…

A masterful victory from Fernando Alonso kept him out of the strategic battles going on behind and, at points in the race, around him. Taking the projected approach to the race of a three-stopper after starting on the soft tyre compound, the Ferrari driver took control of the race after coming out ahead of pole-sitter Lewis Hamilton in the first round of pit stops.

Much has been written about the Malaysian Grand Prix but really, one man’s unchivalrous pass is simply other man’s ruthless desire to win. In many ways what bothered me more about Sebastian Vettel’s weekend was his performance after the race – Oscar winning it was not. However, it was events on the pitwall that most fascinated me – all-in-all, it was not a great week to be a team principal.

A controversial race in Malaysia saw the drivers start out on the intermediate compound. However, once the track started to dry out and the teams switched to slicks after a few laps, it produced a wide range of strategies with a further three stops the preferred route to the chequered flag.