Pirelli: Damage due to special circumstances
SILVERSTONE-DRAMA ANALYZED Pirelli has completed its initial analysis of some of the tires that were used at the British GP and suffered damage in the dramatic closing stages. It has identified the cause of the failures and associated air leaks that occurred on both the Mercedes of Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton and the McLaren [...].
It was possible to identify the cause of the failures and the associated air leaks that occurred in the two Mercedes of Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton as well as in the McLaren of Carlos Sainz.
The main reason lies in a series of individual race circumstances that led to an extremely long use of the second set of tires.
A long last stint
The second safety car phase prompted almost all teams to bring forward the planned pit stop and then complete a particularly long final stint: It amounted to around 40 laps, which is more than three quarters of the entire race length on one of the most demanding tracks on the calendar.
Faster than ever before
This, combined with the significantly increased speed of the 2020 Formula 1 cars (the time for pole position was 1.2 seconds faster than last year), made the final laps of the British Grand Prix particularly tough. This is because the fastest Formula 1 cars in history exerted forces on the tires that had never been seen before at this level.
Strained left front tire
The resulting overall result led to the most difficult operating conditions for the tires. They meant that the front left tire (which is known for having to work the hardest at Silverstone) was under maximum load after a very high number of laps. The resulting high wear meant that it was less protected from the extreme forces acting on it.
Lessons for the second Silverstone GP
For the second GP in Silverstone next weekend - the 70th anniversary race of Formula 1 - Pirelli confirms the nominated compounds C2, C3 and C4. This combination is one step softer than the one used for last Sunday's British GP.
In addition, the regulations for the use of tires will be revised so that the minimum tire pressures are increased in order to reduce the load on the structure.
