F1 tyres 2020: Italian manufactures Pirelli have come under fire after multiple drivers suffered tyre failures in the closing laps of the British Grand Prix.
McLaren’s Carlos Sainz and Mercedes drivers Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri suffered from front-left tyre-related issues in the last three laps of the race. Carlos Sainz and Valtteri Bottas were 5th and 2nd in the race respectively when this happened. Both eventually missed on the Top 10 as a horde of drivers went passed them.
Lewis Hamilton, meanwhile, pulled of a miracle of sorts at his home circuit Silverstone. He suffered a similar issue as Sainz and Bottas, but somehow managed to drag his car across the chequered flag. He finished ahead of eventual runner-up Max Verstappen by a good 5.856 secs.
Things could have been much different, had Red Bull not pitted Max (before Lewis’s tyre issue) for the fastest lap bonus point. In retrospect, had the pit stop not been made, we would have finally had a non-Mercedes race winner this season.
Pirelli boss confirms an investigation is ongoing
Pirelli boss Mario Isola spoke on the cause of the ‘massacre’ of tyres towards the end of the race. He has confirmed his team has already started investigating at their Italian on-site laboratories. He also suggested investigations will continue in their Milan headquarters as long as necessary.
“It could be high wear because tyres with 38 laps or more on this circuit are quite worn. It could be debris because we had pieces of the front wing of Kimi that were on track, but also other debris.”
“So that’s why we want to investigate not only the tyres with a failure, but all the tyres used in the last few laps of the race. This is to understand if we find any other cut or possible indication on what happened.”
Investigations to be completed by Tuesday
Mario Isola also added the crucial point that the 70th anniversary Grand Prix is just days away. As a result of this, they intend to complete the investigations by Tuesday, and report it to FIA and F1. This will help with corrections for the race this weekend, which incidentally, is also taking place at Silverstone.
“We have the possibility to do some analysis at our laboratories here on track. It is clear we don’t have a lot of time to carry out an investigation because we have another race in less than one week. So, we have to come to a conclusion as soon as possible.”
“If the issue is wear then we have to think about a solution. Or else, if it was due to a puncture then obviously there is very little we can do. And if there are other issues then we have to understand what they are and react in the proper way.”
“We don’t want to exclude anything, we want to analyse everything 360 degrees and avoid excluding any possibility because it’s a big mistake when you have this kind of investigation.”
