Max Verstappen was unsuspectingly on his way to the Villeneuve chicane during the race at Imola when his second place fell into the water due to a sudden blowout. His right rear tire, the C2 from Pirelli, which went through life as a hard tire on Imola, gave up the ghost.
RacingNews365 however, has learned that Lewis Hamilton and Daniel Ricciardo’s right rear tire also had bulges at the end of the race in the same place where the Dutchman’s tire in question failed. They may indicate that their tires could have just blown at the end of the race.
Verstappen had completed 33 laps on his set of tires when his right rear tire collapsed, Hamilton only finished 22, while Ricciardo rewarded himself with a podium finish after a stint of 49 (!) Laps on the hard tire.
After the race, the tires from Verstappen were taken by Pirelli to the headquarters in Milan, where they will be examined together with other used tires from Imola. It is not clear what other ties the Italians are examining.
It is clear from radio traffic that there were also concerns at Mercedes about the right rear tire of Hamilton, especially after the blowout of the Dutchman, these worries increased. The Briton switched to a set of soft tires during the safety car.
Incidentally, it is not the first time this year that there have been problems with punctures of Pirelli tires. During the Grand Prix of Great Britain, the hard (C1) tires of Valtteri Bottas, Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz suddenly broke, while Lance Stroll crashed hard at Mugello after, presumably, also a blowout. The Canadian then used the same type (C2) tires as Verstappen on Imola.
Undoubtedly to be continued. In any case, Pirelli will introduce a new specification tire for next year, which should be more resistant to the high downforce levels generated by the current Formula 1 cars.
With the cooperation of Dieter Rencken.
Who will be Verstappen’s new teammate? Hulkenberg is the ideal candidate and will completely ignore Max Verstappen. At least, that’s what racing driver Tom Coronel, F1 journalist Ruud Dimmers and host Thomas van Groningen think, who look back on the race in Imola below in the latest RN365 podcast and look ahead to the new teammate of Verstappen.
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