“Jeddah is much different compared to other circuits” – Pirelli F1 boss Mario Isola has given assurance there will not be any tyre burst-outs during the first-ever Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
Valtteri Bottas, Lando Norris and the Williams duo George Russell and Nicholas Latifi suffered from tyre punctures during the first-ever Qatar Grand Prix. This has raised concerns that the same could happen in fellow Middle Eastern track Jeddah Corniche Circuit.
Allaying fears, Pirelli’s Mario Isola has explained how the kerbs installed for today’s race will diminish the prospect of a tyre blow-out. This is good news for the teams, as it was earlier assumed the high-energy street circuit will be more prone to punctures.
“Looking at the kerbs here in Jeddah, they are completely different.
“We have several other circuits where they hit the kerbs quite harder – in Spielberg, for example, in a couple of corners, or Monza in the first chicane. There are many circuits where they hit the kerbs. I don’t think that the situation here in Jeddah is much different compared to other circuits.
“In Qatar we had the ‘red-and-white’ kerbs that are normal kerbs that we have in any circuit. And immediately after the red-and-white kerbs, we had the green-and-white kerbs which are shaped like a pyramid. In many corners, the drivers were running over these kerbs because they had an advantage in terms of lap time.”
Mercedes explain Valtteri Bottas Qatar puncture
Toto Wolff provided the reasoning for Bottas’ puncture, putting the blame on the ‘long’ tyre strategy Mercedes employed. He calls it a “learning”, signalling a more conservative pit-stop strategy from the world champions.
“I think we definitely learned that you mustn’t run the tyres to zero rubber because a puncture can come without any warning. This is the learning from Qatar.”
