Setting the scene for the Spanish Grand Prix

Michael Schumacher has, it seems, opened a can of worms that even he is reluctant to delve back into. With the seven-time world champion's comments about Pirelli rubber after the Bahrain Grand Prix still a hot topic, there was plenty of tyre talk in the paddock of the Circuit de Catalunya on Thursday. And, unsurprisingly, the man who had initiated the debate was the still focus of attention.

At the start of Schumacher's afternoon press briefing on the ground floor of the Mercedes 'motorhome', BBC TV commentator Ben Edwards asked the German a very rational question about the current philosophy of F1 towards tyres. He got short shrift, seemingly because Schumacher felt that Edwards had gone too hard, too soon on cold rubber.

"Usually, when you come to a race weekend, you don't start straight away with the race, you start with the warm-up, you start with the practice, qualifying and then you go to the race," said Schumacher. "Maybe you do the same in this press conference."

Edwards, understandably slightly baffled by this unorthodox response, took it in his stride, chucked a few 'free practice' questions Schuey's way. Then, ever the expert broadcaster, he put forward exactly the same poser again. Fortunately, Schumacher was by now adequately warmed up and laid out his case, concluding that he was "quite happy that we have initiated the discussion."

There can be no arguing with that. Among the drivers, opinions are mixed. Schumacher's Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg has been pretty emphatic in supporting the Pirelli rubber, as has Ferrari's Felipe Massa. Mark Webber appears to lean towards the Schumacher school of thought. All of that is proof, if any were needed, that you can't please all of the people all of the time. As Sebastian Vettel pointed out, it all depends what kind of end result the sport, and its fans, want.

"Take, for instance, 2009, where we were allowed to refuel, we had new tyres and they lasted longer in that they didn't have that much degradation," said Vettel. "It's different inside the car because you can push nearly every lap similar to qualifying. Now the race is different. The tyres do produce more degradation and we start to slide. One guy slides more than the other because he puts his tyres on two laps earlier. It creates a different type of racing, more overtaking, which I imagine is seen as better quality from the outside. It depends what you really want."

Vettel later turned his attention to winding up Fernando Alonso during the afternoon's FIA press conference. In the wake of Nico Rosberg's controversial defensive moves in Bahrain, there were plenty of questions about where the limit is. Alonso was unwilling to elucidate on his understanding of the rules, saying that they were perfectly clear. At that point, Vettel stepped in mischievously.

"Fernando made it pretty clear," said Vettel. "He said 'you have to leave the space. All the time you have to leave the space!'

Alonso agreed vociferously with this point, adding "as I did last year with Sebastian in Monza."

"He just thought my car was slimmer," Vettel shot back.

"But you passed. You passed," concluded Alonso.

It wasn't an argument, but it was an interesting glimpse at the intensity of the rivalry between the two drivers who some would argue are currently the best in F1. So perhaps it's best to brace ourselves for some dramatic defending next time those two are contesting the same piece of track. There's clearly a little friendly needle there.

Oh, and as for Schumacher, while he started his press briefing with a deft block to Edwards' interrogation of him, he deserves plenty of credit for the way that he brushed off one of the final questions. He was asked about Rosberg's defending in Bahrain and, specifically, whether the younger Mercedes driver had learned it from him.

He didn't bite on that one...

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- The Autosport.com Team

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