Teams hit back at Pirelli tyre findings
Formula 1 teams and drivers have hit out at a lack of transparency following Pirelli’s tyre failures at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix after the Italian company’s investigation deemed that no rules had been broken.
Pirelli launched an inquest into what caused Max Verstappen’s Red Bull and Lance Stroll’s Aston Martin to both suffer left-rear tyre failures in Baku in the 6 June race, having initially said that debris could be to blame. The company issued a statement ahead of last weekend’s French Grand Prix making it clear that the failures were not caused by a production fault, wear or delamination, but instead were the result of a circumferential break on the inner sidewall of the tyres, rather than being the result of a cut from debris.
The statement suggested that the breaks in the sidewall were likely caused by the ‘running condition of the tyre’, with Pirelli F1 chief Mario Isola later explaining that Red Bull and Aston Martin had been running pressures lower than expected.
“When you have a lot of energy going into the tyres, with the pressure that is lower compared to the expectation, the result is that on the sidewall you have what we call standing waves,” said Isola. “Standing waves are putting a lot of energy into the inside shoulder of the tyre. And, at a certain point, the tyre breaks. That is what happened, and the reason why we had this situation in Baku.”
The FIA responded to the investigation by introducing more stringent checks on tyre pressures starting from last weekend’s race at Paul Ricard. But
Isola made clear that Red Bull and Aston Martin had not broken any rules in Baku, meeting the required starting parameters for their tyre pressures.
Few were left satisfied by the explanations that were issued by Pirelli. Verstappen himself called the report “vague”, but rejected any insinuations that Red Bull had acted incorrectly when preparing its tyres.
“If those limits are not correct, there is nothing we can do about it – we just follow what is possible within the rules,” said Verstappen. “If that means that we have to go up on pressures, we will – everyone will go up on pressures. But they say they didn’t have the correct measurements, but we gave it to them after the race and it was shown that we didn’t do anything wrong there. And also, Aston Martin didn’t do anything wrong. They cannot put the blame on us. I think they have to look at themselves.”
But Verstappen’s title rival, Mercedes star Lewis Hamilton, said he did not think that Pirelli was to blame. “More often than not, [it’s] that the tyres are not being run at the pressures that are being asked,” he said. “We didn’t have a problem with our tyres. I think they’ve done a great job with the tyres this year. They’re more robust than before and, in this particular instance, I don’t think Pirelli are at fault.”
That was a position shared by Mclaren team boss Andreas Seidl, who backed Pirelli’s “safe product” and questioned why there had not been greater transparency from the FIA over a safety matter. “What is a bit disappointing for us is that there is not more transparency in what actually happened, because it was a safety-critical topic,” said Seidl. “Normally, that was
a good practice in other cases in the past. With cases like that happening, there is transparency of what is happening, which didn’t happen so far towards the teams. So that’s a bit disappointing.”
It led to a lengthy drivers’ briefing involving Pirelli and the FIA on Friday evening at Paul Ricard, lasting around 90 minutes. It is understood that there was a division between the drivers over the findings.
Verstappen said on Saturday that he was “still not happy” with the explanation, believing it was “very confusing” for fans to understand. But a number of other drivers, including Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz Jr, hailed the meeting as being “productive”. The
Spaniard showed sympathy for the challenge that Pirelli faces with the heavy modern cars.
“I feel in a way for Pirelli,” said Sainz. “We try and keep comparing the product to years and years back.
The fact that we are quicker than 10 to 15 years ago with 150kg extra on the car shows the amount of stress that is going through the tyres and what a challenge Pirelli have on their hands.”
After seeing Stroll and Sebastian Vettel charge into the points in France on Sunday, Aston Martin F1 boss Otmar Szafnauer hoped it would silence any cheating accusations. “It’s frustrating, especially when you know exactly what you’re doing, and you’re well within the rules, for other people who don’t know what you’re doing to accuse you,” he said. “Hopefully that will silence them, but I can tell you that we’ve never done anything untoward. We’ve always followed both the FIA and the Pirelli prescriptions, and will continue to do so.”