Pirelli announce cause of tyre blowout Max in Imola
Published on 13 November 2020 by Kees-Jan Koster
Pirelli, the Formula 1 tyre supplier, concluded the investigation into the tyre blowout of Max Verstappen during the Formula 1 Grand Prix of Emilia-Romagna. Pirelli found cuts in the tread and sidewall of Verstappen’s hard tyre.
“We made an investigation on the tyre and the part of the tyre that we have been able to collect,” according to Mario Isola of Pirelli. “We found some cuts on the tread and the sidewall, both inside and outside. We believe that the reason of the failure was damage on the centre of the tread.”
Isola continues: “That caused the damage on both the belts and the carcass plies, so the belts started to detach following this damage and at a certain point when the carcass was not able to keep the load, we had the deflation that everybody saw.”
“We shared also the analysis with the FIA and the team of Aston Martin Red Bull Racing and this is the evidence that we have. Obviously, it's difficult to analyse a tyre that is in pieces, but we sent immediately the tyre back from Imola to our laboratories in Milan.”
