Pirelli’s investigation into the Qatar GP punctures
It took a while for the required investigations, however ultimately, Pirelli knowledgeable the groups of the findings concerning the punctures suffered by Carlos Sainz and Lewis Hamilton within the last part of the final Qatar GP. In accordance with experiences gathered by the respected The Race, the foundation reason for the punctures—which triggered a chaotic race finale with the Security Automotive deployment and Lando Norris’s penalty for failing to respect yellow flags resulting from a rearview mirror misplaced on observe from Alex Albon’s Williams—was not the sharp curbs however quite the conventional put on of the tires.
No connection to the 2023 occasions
Again in 2023, the Lusail weekend was closely impacted by a structural integrity challenge with the tires. They had been broken when working at excessive velocity over the excessively “sharp” curbs on the observe, main the FIA to impose three obligatory pit stops for all drivers. Happily, this challenge didn’t reoccur in final yr’s version of the race on the circuit close to Doha, which had been correctly modified with the removing of the so-called “killer curbs.” Nonetheless, the ultimate part of the GP was marked by suspicious punctures, occurring virtually concurrently, on the left entrance tires of Hamilton’s Mercedes and Sainz’s Ferrari.
The reason for Pirelli’s Qatar GP punctures
In accordance with Pirelli’s inner investigations performed over the winter, the punctures had been as a substitute brought on by regular tire put on. Nearly all drivers had accomplished 34 or 35 laps out of the scheduled 57 (nicely over half the race) and had been trying to increase the primary stint on Medium tires, ready for a possible race neutralization—both a Security Automotive or Digital Security Automotive—resulting from particles from the Williams being close to the racing line. This impasse was in the end resolved exactly by the punctures suffered by Carlos Sainz and Lewis Hamilton.
“Regular” put on for Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz’s tires
In accordance with Pirelli’s conclusions, as reported by The Race, the traits of the observe additionally performed a key function in bringing the left entrance tires to 100% put on earlier than failure. Lusail’s asphalt could be very clean however generates excessive grip, giving drivers the arrogance to push with out worrying about overheating the tires. Consequently, the sort of circuit doesn’t degrade the compounds resulting from thermal stress as seen on most different tracks, which means lap instances stay aggressive with out efficiency drops—proper up till the purpose of failure, as seen with Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz.
Pirelli finding out countermeasures for the long run
Because of this, Pirelli can be exploring countermeasures to stop drivers from pushing tires to the tip of their lifecycle, risking additional punctures on related circuits. The answer of imposing a most variety of laps per compound—adopted in Qatar in 2023 as a result of sharp curbs—doesn’t seem possible this time. In accordance with The Race, the Milan-based firm might as a substitute handle the difficulty by bringing softer tires, that are much less sturdy and extra prone to thermal stress.
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