Vettel fuming on 'unacceptable tyre failure'
Sebastian Vettel was very outspoken and clearly angry about a rear tyre failure one lap from the end of the Belgian Grand Prix. The four times World Champion highlighted the safety problem such failures can be.
Vettel was on course to finish third until his right rear tyre let go, having just come on top of the hill after rising up through the challenging Eau Rouge and Raidillon complex.
"The racing and the result is one thing", Vettel commenced.
"Sure we deserved to finish on the podium today, but that's racing. One other thing is the reliability problem of these tyres. It's something that nobody really wants to say apparently, but the quality of these tyres is just unacceptable. If this had happened 200m earlier, I would not have been standing here in front of you [journalists] but instead in the hospital."
Vettel raged on still, underlining that this is simply not allowed to happen, but forgot to mention that he and Ferrari were attempting an optimistic single stop strategy, whereas before the race, Pirelli motorsport chief Paul Hembery dismissed the possibility of the single stopper at the 43 lap Belgian Grand Prix.
Still, Pirelli only have strict limitations on tyre pressure and camber, and only advise on the maximum number of laps the tyres can be used.
Asked by the BBC, Niki Lauda later was more nuanced, suggesting that Ferrari's strategy was perhaps to blame for the issue.
"They have to ask themselves if a one-stop is a safe way to get to the end of the race here at Spa-Francorchamps", Lauda commented.
"They took a risk, and two laps from the end it failed to work out. These things happen and are part of the game. We always criticise Pirelli hard, but we have to acknowledge they are the sole tyre supplier, and we have to work with them. They have had their ups and downs, everybody knows that, but they are creating a tyre that matches the sport's demands as closely as possible"
Nico Rosberg, finishing second today but also suffering a high speed tyre failure on Friday, said something should be done about it, even though his failure was caused by a puncture and hence completely unrelated to Vettel's tyre problem caused by excessive wear.
"These problems are something that needs to be looked at. If that tyre has failed a bit earlier it would have been a massive, massive accident, basically just like mine on Friday where I was lucky to escape without any issues. Anyway, it needs to be investigated, and if that cannot be solved in the next few weeks, we need to at least be able to see earlier when a tyre is about to fail. Monza in 2 weeks is even higher speed, so we need be be careful about that".
The interesting question here is how teams are going to manage this if they would be given the possibility to choose their own two tyre compounds for each Grand Prix weekend, rather than let Pirelli decide identically for all team, as they do now. Possibly having less of a view on the potential of the tyres, one can wonder if such additional freedom will not open the door for more extreme pushing of the tyres.
