Ferrari’s Vettel disappointed with F1 tire burst

The FIA already monitors cambers, both when stationary and at high-speed, plus starting pressures. Ever since then this has been the case. After a little while the tyre blew in spectacular fashion. Pirelli said it was an external cut, not a problem with the tyre itself, per Autosport’s Ian Parkes. Furious Sebastian Vettel said he could have been killed after an exploding tyre cost him third place in the Belgian Grand Prix.

“Today was a dream and the vehicle was fantastic all weekend”, declared Hamilton, who controlled the race from the opening lap – after an aborted first start – and never looked threatened by his German rival.

Rosberg was in a rush to leave the circuit since his wife is expecting their first child “any time”. Ferrari driver, Sebastian Vettel, was on a one stop strategy to capitalise on a poor qualifying run that saw him start way down the order. Pirelli had launched an overnight investigation and said Saturday that it was satisfied with the structural integrity of its tyres. “Full stop. If it happened 200 metres earlier, I am not standing here now”, declared Vettel.

Vettel, the only driver to attempt a one-stop strategy, was on his 28th lap on the medium compound when the failure occurred. “The wear life was indicated at around 40 laps but it’s an indication and race conditions can change that”.

The Italian also insisted they had been given no warning from Pirelli that what they were doing was risky.

“We got our strategy absolutely right”, Arrivabene said.

Unfortunately for Pirelli, it will not get sympathy from the fans or the drivers.

The fight for the last spot proved to be the most exciting of the race.

“Our straightline speed is good and that makes me fairly confident for the race as this is a place where you can overtake”, he said.

“It’s not nice when you’re driving at over 300km/h and you have a tyre giving up”, said Nasr.

“There were some pictures of me at the carnival in the papers, but I couldn’t care less about that”. He was fending off Grosjean with only a lap to go when his right-rear tire controversially exploded, leaving him no choice but to limp back to the pits and finish 12 with some unhappy words to follow. I do not believe that the two failures were instigated by the same things but that they may have the same root cause, perhaps related to the bonding between tread and sidewall.

Longer term, Pirelli needs more testing time with current F1 cars. What could be done is to dig up an old concept from pre war racing. Its a simple but effective measure. “I tried everything but Lewis knew how to react”. In 2013 Pirelli did indeed call for for such a move but it was sensibly rejected.

“The proposal put forward a maximum distance equivalent to 50% of the grand prix distance for the prime tyre and 30% for the option. One stop was our Plan A. We decided that at 11 o’clock this morning, precisely”.

Hembery is also quoted by Spain’s Marca: “The teams make decisions based on the data they have and, in this case, something went wrong between us and them”. But at the heart of the issue isn’t an inept Pirelli, but rather Formula One has brutally taken its relationship with its tyre supplier for granted.