FLOYD ON F1: Tyred of all the rubber drama

It was reported teams would be subjected to a new system of checking tyres during the F1 French Grand Prix last weekend at the Paul Ricard circuit.

This follows the result of the Pirelli and FIA investigation into tyre failures experienced by Aston Martin and Red Bull in Baku. But it has led to one of the strangest decisions made for some years, almost akin to the Ferrari power unit investigation of 2018.

That took a year to resolve and to this day no one outside Maranello and the FIA has any idea what the real issue was, since the two organisations settled the matter without public disclosure. All I do know is that the Ferrari was never the same from mid-2019, after the investigation commenced.

When Pirelli submitted a report about the F1 Baku problems to the FIA, a decision was reached to introduce “a new set of protocols to monitor operating conditions during a race weekend”.

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The rumours were some teams had discovered ways to manipulate tyre pressures, including the early removal of tyre blankets. Thus the tyres could cool, their pressure would drop and increase their footprint, and therefore the grip.

So the new protocol and a multiple page technical directive were brought into force at the F1 French Grand Prix.

What I find astounding is the basis of the changes, following statements from Mario Isola, Pirelli’s motorsport chief, when he was reported as saying: “At the beginning the idea was there was some debris cutting the construction, because obviously we had the evidence of other tyres with some cuts on the tread.

“Those cuts were due to debris for sure, but the debris were not sharp enough to cut the construction. What happened in Baku is simply that the running conditions expected were different compared to the actual running conditions.”

He continued. “The failures were a circumferential cut on the inside shoulder. When you have a lot of energy going through the tyres, with the pressure that is lower compared to the expectation, the result is that you have what we call standing waves putting a lot of energy into the shoulder of the tyre and at a certain point the tyre failed.”

So, how did the pressures become lower? Isola was very diplomatic on this point when he said: “We didn’t experience the problems because teams were doing something against the regulations.

“They were looking, as usual, for performance and that created a different scenario compared to what we were expecting.”

He continued: “We didn’t say that the teams did something that is not permitted in the regulations.”

Both Red Bull and Aston Martin were quick to respond, confirming they had worked within the parameters set by Pirelli and had not found any fault on their F1 cars that could have caused the failures.

McLaren team principal Andreas Seidel is not happy with the outcome and was reported as saying: “It was an interesting sequence of events this week with the technical directive coming out and seeing the carefully chosen words … from all parties involved.

“It is disappointing that there is not more transparency in what actually happened because it was a safety critical topic.”

I do not believe Seidel is alone in his thinking, as once again an FIA investigation has proved and stated nothing. Somehow the F1 governing body has immediately introduced new protocols and technical directives based on no solid facts. I hope it makes sense to someone out there.

Nevertheless, new testing and an increase in rear tyre pressures aside, last weekend’s event produced enthralling racing from free practice to the final chequered flag on Sunday afternoon. It was not one I would classify as a great race but it certainly kept you on the edge of your seat and hopefully we are going to see more of this in future.

It will be interesting to see how Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes hit back after being beaten at their own strategy game by Red Bull to enable Max Verstappen to stretch his lead in the Driver’s Champions to 12 points.

To see the official F1 standings, click here.

This weekend it is off to Spielberg in Austria for the Styrian Grand Prix and with Red Bull on home ground.