Pirelli questions debris as the main culprit for Qatar tire failures, intensifying efforts to uncover the true causes.
Pirelli now has an idea of why the tires of Carlos Sainz and Lewis Hamilton punctured in Qatar last week. Simone Berra, the Italian manufacturer’s chief engineer, confirms that the first signs of tire fatigue appeared before Valtteri Bottas scattered debris on the straight.
“Looking at the telemetry data, we clearly noticed that the loss of pressure occurred before Bottas hit the mirror on the straight,” Berra stated. “So, these punctures happened elsewhere on the circuit, due to other debris or for other reasons.”
“We will carry out all the usual checks: examine the tire sections, inspect the sidewalls, assess fatigue life, and evaluate residual fatigue resistance. We are conducting all these tests and will then inform the FIA and teams of the results.”
“But for now, we do not yet have results. Everything is still ongoing. We will likely have something by the end of next week, but it is more probable that in two weeks we will have a clear and complete understanding of what happened.”
However, Pirelli still wants to confirm the cause of these punctures: “This is what we want to understand. Of course, it is important. It is important for the teams. It is important for us. So, we want to dive into the details to determine whether it was due to debris or not.”
The Speed of F1 Cars Is Also a Factor
Berra revealed that Pirelli had not anticipated the Formula 1 cars would be this fast when the manufacturer designed tires for the season. This naturally impacts the forces the tires must withstand.
“In the last few races, we observed an increase even greater than expected, and we’ve seen very high loads, especially from two or three teams.”
“Based on simulations we conducted mid-season and at the end of the season, no one expected this level of loads. I’d say they far exceed expectations.”
“It’s interesting to see how much they are evolving with the cars, honestly, because we thought they would eventually reach a sort of maximum performance level.”
“But there are still higher loads to be gained and performance to improve. We’ve seen in the last few races, for example, that Mercedes has improved significantly. It’s very interesting.”
Pirelli is now focusing on these simulations: “We received the teams’ simulations at the end of November, and we’re now analyzing them in detail. At this stage, we don’t yet have a clear understanding of the situation.”
“Obviously, we expect some improvement, but we need to analyze the data to determine if the performance increase will, let’s say, be much smaller and if we’ll be in a more stable situation.”
A Single Specification for the Entire Season
Pirelli remains committed to avoiding changes to tire constructions during the season to preserve the competitive order: “Fundamentally, we do not want to change the construction throughout the season because we believe it’s not really fair.”
“We provide a specification, and that should remain the same for the rest of the season. For Silverstone last year, the reason was that the improvement in terms of fatigue resistance was quite significant.”
“We proposed that to ensure better tire integrity. But we do not expect anything similar next year, as the new structure has improved both fatigue resistance and resistance to standing waves.”
“We will respond with pressure adjustments, but I’d prefer not to increase it too much—and I think the teams feel the same. That’s because increasing pressure leads to overheating and graining. So, we’d like to keep the pressure as low as possible.”
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Pirelli Doubts Debris as Sole Cause of Qatar Punctures Pirelli Doubts Debris as Sole Cause of Qatar Punctures
