Pirelli’s investigation into the Qatar GP punctures
It took a while for the required investigations, however in the long run, Pirelli knowledgeable the groups of the findings concerning the punctures suffered by Carlos Sainz and Lewis Hamilton within the remaining part of the final Qatar GP. In accordance with stories gathered by the respected The Race, the foundation reason behind the punctures—which triggered a chaotic race finale with the Security Automotive deployment and Lando Norris’s penalty for failing to respect yellow flags as a result of a rearview mirror misplaced on monitor from Alex Albon’s Williams—was not the sharp curbs however reasonably the traditional put on of the tires.
No connection to the 2023 occasions
Again in 2023, the Lusail weekend was closely impacted by a structural integrity concern with the tires. They have been broken when working at excessive velocity over the excessively “sharp” curbs on the monitor, main the FIA to impose three necessary pit stops for all drivers. Luckily, this concern didn’t reoccur in final yr’s version of the race on the circuit close to Doha, which had been correctly modified with the elimination of the so-called “killer curbs.” Nonetheless, the ultimate part of the GP was marked by suspicious punctures, occurring nearly 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 inside investigations carried out over the winter, the punctures have been as an alternative brought on by regular tire put on. Nearly all drivers had accomplished 34 or 35 laps out of the scheduled 57 (effectively over half the race) and have been trying to increase the primary stint on Medium tires, ready for a possible race neutralization—both a Security Automotive or Digital Security Automotive—as a result of particles from the Williams being close to the racing line. This impasse was finally 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 monitor additionally performed a key function in bringing the left entrance tires to 100% put on earlier than failure. Lusail’s asphalt may be very clean however generates excessive grip, giving drivers the boldness to push with out worrying about overheating the tires. Consequently, the sort of circuit doesn’t degrade the compounds as a result of thermal stress as seen on most different tracks, that 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 forestall drivers from pushing tires to the top of their lifecycle, risking additional punctures on comparable circuits. The answer of imposing a most variety of laps per compound—adopted in Qatar in 2023 because of the sharp curbs—doesn’t seem possible this time. In accordance with The Race, the Milan-based firm could as an alternative handle the difficulty by bringing softer tires, that are much less sturdy and extra prone to thermal stress.
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