Pirelli offers "no excuses" for British GP tyre failures; vows to improve product

Pirelli

Pirelli offers "no excuses" for British GP tyre failures; vows to improve product

Extreme forces contributed to issue at Silverstone

Ian Parkes

Tuesday 4 August 2020 19:27

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Pirelli has vowed to find a quick solution and supply an even better product after offering "no excuses" for the tyre failures during the British Grand Prix.

The Italian manufacturer blamed the delaminations that affected Mercedes duo Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas and McLaren's Carlos Sainz on "the biggest forces ever seen on tyres generated by the fastest Formula 1 cars in history".

In conjunction with a longer-than-normal stint approaching 40 laps on the hard compound following a safety car that forced an earlier-than-planned change, Pirelli was ultimately caught out.

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Speaking in a conference call with invited media, including GPFans, Pirelli F1 boss Mario Isola confirmed that what unfolded at Silverstone was "not in the target" for his company.

"We want to avoid this kind of stuff, this is not a way to increase the show," said Isola.

"We discussed internally the situation, what happened. We decided to be very transparent with everybody, that this is what happened.

"No excuses, it's reality. Formula 1 cars are very fast. If you see the level of forces that are acting on the tyres, they are unbelievable.

"We learn every day in Formula 1, it's a very challenging environment, for us, for the teams, for the engineers that develop the cars.

"We will work to fix the issue and to supply an even better product. I believe we have a good product and what happened on Sunday is something that shouldn't happen, so we will work around that to find a solution quickly, in a very honest way."

Isola, who revealed Williams' Nicholas Latifi had also sustained a puncture to his front-left tyre that was discovered after the race, has confirmed there will be a short-term fix for this weekend's second race at Silverstone, the 70th Anniversary GP.

With the three tyres across the range a compound softer, the prescription will be for shorter stints, so creating a two-stop race, and with increased pressures - up from 25psi to 27 on the front tyres and 21 to 24 on the rears.

Pirelli is also cancelling a planned 30-minute test of its prototype tyres - that could potentially be used for the 2021 season - that was scheduled for FP2. This is to allow the teams more of an opportunity to assess the rubber on long runs.

The same test is still planned to go-ahead for the second practice session of the Spanish Grand Prix at Barcelona's Circuit de Catalunya the following Friday.

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