By Glenn Freeman Tuesday, February 8th 2011, 15:00 GMT
Norbert Haug says that Mercedes cannot use the new Pirelli tyres as an excuse if it struggles to perform in 2011.
The German manufacturer's return to Formula 1 failed to yield a single victory last year, with many of the team's struggles put down to not getting the most out of the Bridgestone tyres.
That, and the problems encountered by Michael Schumacher during his comeback season, has led to much speculation over the winter surrounding how the team will deal with Pirelli rubber in 2011.
Mercedes made a low-key start to its testing campaign at Valencia last week, but Haug says that any struggles this year will not be blamed on the Italian rubber.
"The tyres are the same for everybody and at the end of the day you need to live with it," Haug told AUTOSPORT. "You cannot blame the tyres.
"We know about our shortcomings from 2010 and we want to do a better job. You can say 'we cannot extract the best from the tyres', which we could say last year, but we could not blame Bridgestone for that.
"You can blame your car, you can blame your set-up, you can blame everything that is built around the tyres. But you cannot blame the tyres."
Haug said it was too early to judge if the combination of a 2011 car and the Pirelli tyres will give Michael Schumacher a better feeling than he had last year.
"Valencia is not a typical grand prix circuit, but I think Michael adapted very well," he said. "He needs more experience [of the 2011 car], but it's positive so far."
