Pirelli to strengthen tires for Nurburgring

LONDON - Agence France-Presse

Ferrari F1 driver Felipe Massa of Brazil enters the pit with a puncture during the British Grand Prix. REUTERS photo

Pirelli is to strengthen its tires for the German Grand Prix after a series of dangerous blow-outs at Silverstone led to calls for urgent action, the Italian manufacturer announced on July 2.

Safety concerns were expressed after British Grand Prix over the weekend when Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes, Jean-Eric Vergne of Toro Rosso and Sergio Perez of McLaren all suffered blow-outs.

In response, Pirelli said it would make the rear tyres’ internal belt with the high-strength synthetic fibre Kevlar instead of the usual steel to reduce temperatures and the risk of punctures.

Formula One teams, Pirelli and motorsport’s world governing body, the International Automobile Federation (FIA), will meet to discuss the matter at Nurburgring on Wednesday.

Only the rear tires will be changed for June 30 race, although a complete change will be introduced for the Hungarian Grand Prix on July 28 using the 2012 tire design.

 In a statement, Pirelli said that after “exhaustive analysis” they had concluded the blow-outs at Silverstone were caused by a number of factors, including: - Rear tires that were mounted the wrong way round: in other words, the right hand tire being placed where the left hand one should be and vice versa, on the cars that suffered failures. - inexact tire pressures - The use of extreme camber angles on the circuit - aggressive kerbing on fast corners.