McLaren concern by "lack of transparency" on "safety-critical" Pirelli tyre issue

Max Verstappen crashte in Bakoe na een klapband. — Photo: © LAT Images

Pirelli

McLaren concern by "lack of transparency" on "safety-critical" Pirelli tyre issue

Red Bull and Aston Martin in the spotlight

Ian Parkes

Friday 18 June 2021 11:24

McLaren team principal Andreas Seidl has expressed concern at the lack of transparency over what he claims is "a safety-critical topic" following the tyre furore in the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

Pirelli boss Mario Isola has claimed Red Bull and Aston Martin were both seeking performance by running tyre pressures during the race that were different to those prescribed, albeit their actions were not illegal.

It culminated in spectacular failures involving Aston Martin's Lance Stroll and Red Bull's Max Verstappen, the latter five laps from the finish that cost the Dutch driver victory.

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A new technical directive has since been issued ahead of this weekend's French GP in a bid to avoid a repeat of what happened in Baku, notably with tyre pressures raised.

Assessing what has unfolded since the last race, Seidl said: "First of all, it was a very interesting sequence of events this week with the TD coming out and seeing the carefully chosen words in the press releases from all parties involved.

"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 what happened in Baku.

"Normally, in the past, with cases like that there is transparency of what is happening, which didn't happen so far so that's a bit disappointing.

"From McLaren's point of view, we definitely welcome the activities on the FIA side to put these verifications out at the same time, but they weren't really needed. The regulations were clear before.

"There is a clear reason why we get the prescriptions from Pirelli and why these regulations are in place.

"We as a team are fully aware of that and we know we have to act responsibly with these prescriptions within the regulations to ensure we don't put our drivers at risk."

Seidl calls on FIA for clarification

Asked as to which party needs to be clearer, Seidl replied: "That needs to come from the FIA because they have the power to decide what needs to be made transparent here in this case.

"But in the end, it involves both parties who were involved in what happened there."

Seidl has made clear Pirelli was not at fault over the incidents, believing if the teams concerned had followed the prescriptions provided by the manufacturer then there would have been no issues.

"There are assumptions as to what actually happened," said Seidl. "There is a lot of criticism towards Pirelli but in the end, it's not something we support because Pirelli has produced a safe product for this year.

"In Baku, if you were running the car within the regulations and following the prescriptions from Pirelli there was no issue with the tyres.

"That's why I feel it would be important for the entire paddock to have transparency in understanding what actually happened and what was causing these failures in the end."