Paul Hembery insists the high degradation experienced at Sepang on Friday was "within" Pirelli's expected parameters.
Several drivers, including Sebastian Vettel, complained in the wake of Friday's practices with the reigning World Champion saying he was concerned Red Bull would not have "enough tyres to survive" Sunday's Malaysian GP.
However, Hembery insists the degradation was within the norms that Pirelli expected with their hard and medium compound tyres.
"The teams experienced high ambient temperatures for the first time this year with our tyres, which was extremely useful as these are also the conditions that we would anticipate for the rest of the weekend," said the Pirelli motorsport director.
"That includes the high risk of rain showers, as we saw halfway through FP2. As the circuit dried towards the end of FP2, this allowed the teams to assess the crossover points between the intermediates and the slicks.
"As we expected, we saw quite a high wear rate today, due to the more extreme nature of our 2013 tyres - which put the accent firmly on performance - as well as the high temperatures and abrasive track surface.
"Nonetheless, degradation stayed within our anticipated parameters.
"We have also seen differences in the way that individual teams use the compounds, with the hard compound lasting 15 laps for some teams and 21 laps or more for others. We'll be looking at all the data tonight to establish a more precise picture for qualifying and the race."
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