Pirelli has confirmed the cause for the tyre failure that saw Sebastian Vettel drop from third to seventh on the penultimate lap of the British Grand Prix.
The German had a difficult race at Silverstone falling behind Max Verstappen’s Red Bull at the start, costing him any chance to chaallenge eventual race-winner Lewis Hamilton.
He was later passed by a recovering Valtteri Bottas too before tyre problems both for he and teammate Kimi Raikkonen on consecutive laps meant both had to pit.
“Pirelli has concluded the analysis on Sebastian Vettel’s damaged front-left P Zero Yellow soft tyre, which affected him two laps from the finish of the British Grand Prix,” a statement read.
“As appeared clear since Sunday afternoon, a full investigation has now confirmed that the original cause of the failure was a slow puncture. The consequent driving back to the pits on an underinflated and then flat tyre led to the final failure.”
Though not confirmed in the analysis, a reason for the slow puncture could have been a harsh lock-up fighting Bottas several laps before. The impact of the failure was dramatic with Vettel’s championship lead cut to just a single point at the halfway point of the season.
As claimed by Pirelli soon after the race, the cause of Raikkonen’s failure was different to that of his teammate and the tyre supplier revealed reasoning for, what appeared to be a tread failure, on the Finn’s tyre was still uncertain
“Kimi Raikkonen’s damaged tyre shows less evidence of what occurred, so further tests and analysis are still ongoing in Pirelli’s laboratories and indoor testing facilities. It will take a few more days to reach a definitive conclusion,” they said.
