Pirelli responds to marble concerns

Ferrari driver Fernando Alonso admitted the marbles were a "worry", while Renault's Vitaly Petrov said he went off in Sepang because of marbles on the racing line.

Pirelli's Paul Hembery said the marbles are a natural consequence of its decision to provide tyres that degrade to improve the show.

He said, however, that his company will try to reduce the amount of marbles generated, but not by changing its approach.

"Once all the different strategies had played out, the last 10 laps in Sepang were absolutely thrilling - but you can't make an omelette without breaking eggs, or, in the case of Malaysia, rubber," said Hembery.

"The rubber 'marbles' on the track are a natural consequence of the increased degradation that has led to more exciting races: all that rubber has to go somewhere, just as it has always done in the past.

"Having said that, we're here to serve the teams' best interests and we're looking at ways of reducing some of the deposits in the future. But that's not going to change our fundamental philosophy: we want to give racing back to the racers."