Pirelli launch 360-degree investigation following British GP tyre failures

Pirelli

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Pirelli launch 360-degree investigation following British GP tyre failures

Hamilton, Bottas and Sainz all suffered front-left issues

Ian Parkes

Sunday 2 August 2020 22:18

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Pirelli has launched a '360-degree' investigation into the tyre issues that caused mayhem in the closing stages of the British Grand Prix.

Mercedes duo Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton, along with McLaren's Carlos Sainz, all suffered delaminations of their front-left tyres in the final three laps of the 52-lap race at Silverstone.

The incidents cost Bottas a guaranteed runner-up spot and Sainz fifth place, while Hamilton limped over the line to claim victory by just under six seconds from Red Bull's Max Verstappen after his problem sparked panic halfway into his final lap.

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Pirelli boss Mario Isola has confirmed an investigation has already started at the Italian manufacturer's on-site laboratories, and if necessary will continue at their headquarters in Milan.

Assessing the possible outcomes, Isola said: "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 the pieces of the front wing of Kimi [Raikkonen] that were on track, but also some 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 to understand if we find any other cut or possible indication on what happened.

"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. If it was due to a puncture then obviously there is very little we can do. 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."

Isola is hoping to have answers either on Monday or Tuesday at the latest should the investigation require further analysis in Milan.

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