With the tyres so sensitive, and the teams so evenly matched, getting your rubber into the right 'operating window' has become critical.
Unless you are a committed Formula One fan, you may not have heard of the man at the centre of the sport's latest row. Paul Hembery is a Ricky Gervais lookalike who speaks with a West Country burr and tweets a lot. Mostly about motor racing but a fair bit about Bristol City and his fondness for red wine.
Hembery also heads up Pirelli's motorsport operation and is thus responsible for inflicting the latest generation of tyres on the sport. Tyres, unless you have been on the moon for the past month and have not heard the paddock chatter, have been this season's major talking point.
With four different winners from four different teams in the first four races - the first time that has happened since 1983 - the racing has been as unpredictable as it has been gripping. Although ironically, grip, or rather the lack of it, is driving the current controversy.
With the tyres so sensitive, and the teams so evenly matched, getting your rubber into the right "operating window" has become critical.
Too critical for some. Michael Schumacher opined this week that driving on these Pirellis was akin to driving on "raw eggs" and concluded they were having too much of an influence on the racing. The purists - who deride the current cars with their KERS boost, fast-degrading tyres and driver-operated wing flaps, as gimmicky - would agree with him.
Hembery makes the case for the defence. "Michael is a great champion," he said. "But while we respect his opinion we won't change things until everyone is saying that."
An engaging character, Hembery admitted it has not been the smoothest of rides for Pirelli since they entered the sport last season with a brief to engineer fast-degrading high-performance tyres.
"At the outset it was a huge change," he said, "a bit of a culture shock. But we are only doing what we were asked to do. I'm quite sure our bosses were worried. They asked me: 'Are you sure? We're investing a lot of time, effort and money in this.'
"When Ferrari don't win they come under a lot of pressure in Italy. The media tend to build them up and knock them down. These are things that can have an impact on your share price. And we had to say 'yes, it's good everyone is talking about us'. To be fair they backed us."
Hembery cites improved sales and brand awareness as proof that Pirelli's decision to stick with the programme has paid off. "Whenever we speak to our dealers they tell us they have people coming in and saying 'Oh, Pirelli, they do F1'. Our sales are up. Our market share is up. I think it has helped enormously.
"I think particularly with the younger audience; perhaps they now see Pirelli as a company willing to have a bit of fun, not cold and corporate."
McLaren's Jenson Button set the pace in practice yesterday but you would be taking a punt backing him tomorrow given what happened to McLaren in Bahrain last month (hint: they failed to get into the right operating window).
Hembery is unrepentant. "The best driver-car combination should still prevail," he said. "We are in the entertainment business. If you go to football and see 0-0 draws you will stop going. If you see 5-5 draws; same result but people will keep coming back."
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