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Home  » Sports » Pirelli to reveal reasons for Vettel's Belgian GP tyre blow

Pirelli to reveal reasons for Vettel's Belgian GP tyre blow

September 01, 2015 15:44 IST
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Ferrari Formula One driver Sebastian Vettel steers his car to the safety area after a tyre failure during the Belgian F1 Grand Prix in Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium, on August 23

Image: Ferrari Formula One driver Sebastian Vettel steers his car to the safety area after a tyre failure during the Belgian F1 Grand Prix in Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium, on August 23. Photograph: Michael Kooren/Reuters

Pirelli have completed their investigation into Sebastian Vettel's Belgian Grand Prix tyre blowout and will explain more at Ferrari's home race this week, motorsport director Paul Hembery said on Monday.

The Italian tyre company also announced it would be bringing the same medium and soft compounds to Monza as were used at Spa.

The choice is, however, softer than the medium and hard used last year at Monza, a 53-lap race won by Britain's Lewis Hamilton for Mercedes after completing 25 laps on the former and 28 on the latter.

"We have finalised the investigation into Sebastian Vettel’s tyre at Spa. Detailed conclusions from the technical analysis will be presented at Monza," Hembery said ahead of Sunday's Italian Grand Prix.

Vettel, the four-times world champion who joined Ferrari from Red Bull at the end of last season and has won twice this year, was furious after suffering a high-speed blowout on the penultimate lap at Spa while in third place.

"Things like that are not allowed to happen. Full stop. If it happened 200 metres earlier I am not standing here now," said the German after the race.

Vettel's dramatic blowout, just after sweeping through the fearsome Eau Rouge, followed compatriot Nico Rosberg's in Friday practice, a failure Pirelli blamed on an external cut rather than anything structural.

The Mercedes driver also felt fortunate to escape serious injury.

Hembery suggested at Spa that Vettel's problem was caused by excessive wear due to the German's decision to do just one stop and run a long stint -- 28 laps when the right rear failed -- on the medium.

Pirelli also said that such a situation could have been avoided if, after a spate of blowouts at the 2013 British Grand Prix forced a change in construction, teams had accepted their request for a maximum number of laps on the same set of tyres.

Monza is the fastest track on the Formula One calendar, featuring long straights and placing high energy loads on the tyres.

"We have the medium and soft compounds, a step softer than our nomination last year, which should be well suited to Monza and the emphasis on speed that this circuit always places," said Hembery.

"We’re expecting a fair degree of wear and degradation so as always the work done during free practice will be very important when it comes to calculating the optimal strategy."

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Source: REUTERS
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