Pirelli claims teams share blame for Silverstone tyre blowouts
Supplier claims tyres were mounted the wrong way round and under-inflated, which led to the mid-race explosions at British Grand Prix
Formula One teams contributed to the dramatic blowouts at Sunday's British Grand Prix by mounting rear tyres the wrong way around and running them with low pressures, supplier Pirelli said.
Rejecting any suggestion that its product was dangerous, the Italian company said it would bring stronger rear tyres to this weekend's race in Germany to allay any safety fears and introduce a new range in Hungary at the end of the month.
Pirelli said some teams had deliberately put tyres intended for the right rear of the car on the left, had run them at lower pressures than recommended by the manufacturer and used extreme cambers (the angle of the tyre in relation to the ground) for performance advantage.
However, it shouldered some of the blame for these practices. "Mounting the tyres the wrong way round is a practice that was nonetheless underestimated by everybody, above all [by] Pirelli, who did not forbid this," the company said.
Pirelli said the kerbs at fast corners, and specifically at turn four of the Silverstone circuit, were also "particularly aggressive". Silverstone's owners described reports that sharp edges on the circuit's kerbs might have been to blame for the blowouts as "absolute rubbish".
Four drivers suffered high-speed rear tyre blowouts at Silverstone - Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes), Felipe Massa (Ferrari), Jean-Eric Vergne (Toro Rosso) and Sergio Perez (McLaren).