Michael Schumacher has hit out over the Pirelli tyre lottery since the Bahrain Grand Prix but, as Jonathan Noble argues, it's made the racing great so far

So Michael Schumacher was the first to crack. Amid ever-mounting evidence that tyres – or, more importantly, Formula 1 teams' ability to understand and exploit them – is now becoming the key factor in deciding races, the Mercedes driver's outburst against Pirelli was the first sign that not everybody is happy with the way the racing is panning out this year.

With four different cars winning the first four races, it's nigh on impossible to state which team or driver is the current favourite for the world championship. McLaren's front-row lock-outs in Australia and Malaysia seem distant memories now judging by recent races, with Lotus, Red Bull and Mercedes all outperforming Woking's best in the past fortnight.

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