Pirelli does not want to assume that the punctures that affected Carlos Sainz and Lewis Hamilton in Qatar were solely caused by debris from Alex Albon's wing mirror, which was destroyed seconds before the two near-simultaneous ruptures.
Given the aggressive nature of the Losail track and its kerbs, the tires are subject to enormous stress, and Pirelli will study the possible causes coming from its products.
“As expected, this weekend was very busy for us. This Sunday, we had two punctures on the front left tire of the cars of Sainz and Hamilton” said Mario Isola, Pirelli Formula 1 program director.
“As per procedure, we will now analyze the damaged tires in detail, along with a selection of other tires, to confirm that this was indeed linked to the debris on track.”
“Together with the telemetry data we have acquired and the on-board images of the cars, they will be sent to our laboratory in Milan. In addition, we will carry out all the usual checks on the stresses to which the tires have been subjected.”
Isola admits Qatar is a special place for F1 tires: “This circuit has quite particular characteristics: it is very severe in terms of energy exerted on the tires and in terms of wear of the tread, without causing a drop in performance.”
“It is clear that this combination of factors can create a situation where wear levels reach their limit, whilst teams nevertheless try to lengthen the stint as long as possible in order to achieve the best possible result and we do so. we saw during this race.”
The Italian recognizes, however, that the Sprint had left some concerns about the performance of the tires: “During Saturday's Sprint, in some cases the level of wear had reached 100% on cars which started with around a third of the fuel load they had carried for the start this Sunday.
“On this circuit, the front left is the tire subjected to the greatest load and it is no coincidence that the two punctures occurred on this tire. When you reach a certain level, the slightest debris can cause a situation like the one we observed.”
“For the rest, the performance levels of the most used compounds – C1 and C2 – were very similar and, as mentioned previously, with minimal degradation. Therefore, the level of tire management required was practically zero, the drivers being able to attack as much as they wanted, even if they actually had a one-stop strategy.”
