03/12/2021
NEWS STORY
Pirelli says the deflations seen in Qatar were the result of the amount of time the tyres were run on the kerbs, at high speed and with considerable lateral and vertical loads.
A late puncture saw Valtteri Bottas drop down the order subsequently retiring as a result of damage suffered by the original deflation. This meant the Finn was unable to make a late attack on the fastest lap which would have deprived Max Verstappen of the crucial point.
Two laps after Bottas' retirement, Nicholas Latifi also suffered a puncture that resulted in a DNF, while punctures for Lando Norris and George Russell led to fears that more drivers might be similarly affected.
Ongoing analysis that Pirelli is carrying out on the tyres of the cars that suffered deflations during the Grand Prix has provided some initial conclusions that exclude any production defects.
Based on the findings obtained so far, according to the Italian manufacturer, the origin of the problem is mainly due to the amount of time these tyres were run on the kerbs, at high speed and with considerable lateral and vertical loads: a situation unique to the Losail circuit.
The heavy demand caused by running over these kerbs, which isn't possible to measure from the data available before the race, damaged the tyre construction and led to a loss of pressure in the internal sidewall, which consequently caused the structure to collapse after several seconds.
Pirelli has shared all the technical details of the analysis carried out so far with the FIA and the teams.
Check out our Friday gallery from Jeddah, here.