The 2015 Belgian Grand Prix was set for a thrilling last lap duel between Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel and Lotus’ Romain Grosjean for the final podium position, but 43 laps of painstaking set-up were undone in an instant.
Cresting Eau Rouge and flying down the Kemmel straight with Grosjean on his tail, Vettel’s rear-right tyre exploded spectacularly, showering the circuit with Pirelli rubber and ending Ferrari’s hopes of a podium at its 900th grand prix.
Vettel limped his car home in 12th, stewing inside his helmet as he did so. By the time he got back to pit lane, his frustration had become irrepressible.
“Things like that are not allowed to happen, full stop,” seethed the German to the BBC after the Belgian Grand Prix. “If it happened 200 metres earlier, I’m not standing here now, I’m doing 300 [kilometres per hour] stuck in Eau Rouge.
Mixed with his immediate emotions was the memory of Nico Rosberg’s near identical failure during Friday practice and the apparent dismissal by Pirelli of his concerns its tyres mightn’t be up to the task at Spa.
Pirelli, after an overnight analyses, declared the failure to likely be the result of debris puncture and its tyres to be safe.
“Same as every time: ‘yeah, there was a cut, debris, bodywork, the driver went wide’ – bullshit,” Vettel raged.
“If Nico tells us that he didn’t go off the track, he didn’t go off the track. Same with me, I didn’t go out off the track – just out of the blue the tyre explodes.
“As I said, if this happens earlier, then I’m fucked. I don’t know what else needs to happen.”
Pirelli came out swinging. Motorsport boss Paul Hembery first told reporters after the race that Ferrari had brought about the puncture by attempting to complete more than half the race distance on one set of tyres, then Pirelli released a single paragraph race summary that pulled no punches.
“In November 2013, Pirelli requested that there should be rules to govern the maximum number of laps that can be driven on the same set of tyres, among other parameters to do with correct tyre usage. This request was not accepted.
“The proposal put forward a maximum distance equivalent to 50 per cent of the grand prix distance for the prime tyre and 30 per cent for the option.
“These conditions, if applied today at Spa, would have limited the maximum number of laps on the medium compound to 22.”
Pirelli, too, had been stockpiling its angry pills – except its inventory dates back to 2013 when a spate of tyre failures forced the company to redesign its offering in an embarrassing backdown.
History is written by the victors, so the truth that those failures in 2013 – triggered by teams deliberately misusing their tyres by fitting them backwards and at extreme camber – is rarely mentioned, and Pirelli has been forced to stoically cop abuse on all fronts ever since.
But the change in tyre specification did not alter the fundamental problems plaguing the Formula One-Pirelli relationship: namely, that Formula One has never cared to help Pirelli deliver the product it demands.
To view criticism of Pirelli – both major gripes, such as those during this weekend, and criticism as minor as tyres being marginally too hard or soft – in this context is illuminating.
Any flaws with Pirelli’s tyres can be linked directly to the teams’ inability to agree on a sustainable way to allow Pirelli to test with a modern Formula One car, leaving the company to build its four compounds fit for racing on 20 different circuits based on guesswork.
It is for that same reason that Pirelli’s tyres may not have been capable of handling the immense loading put through them this weekend – the cars are both faster and producing more downforce than they were 12 months ago, catching the tyre supplier out.
So normalised is the trashing of Pirelli that both Vettel and Rosberg brazenly claimed to not have driven off the track, yet image after countless image has been available from FP1 of both of them – and almost everyone else – cutting across the sharp kerbs at the exit of Eau Rouge in blatant contravention of the FIA’s warning to the contrary.
This is not to detract from Vettel’s legitimate concerns and valid emotions, he was put in a dangerous situation, certainly, and Pirelli ought to conduct a fulsome investigation. But at the heart of the issue isn’t an inept Pirelli, but rather Formula One has brutally taken its relationship with its tyre supplier for granted.
If, after this, Formula One continues to show so little interest in the fortunes of its tyre supplier, it will be difficult to blame Pirelli for coldly reciprocating. Michelin be warned.
Follow @MichaelLamonato on Twitter, it’s sometimes worth the effort.
Five-years is a long time in motorsport, let alone the general state of the world – especially given the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic…
Red Bull and Max Verstappen vaulted right back to the top of the charts with a win in Suzuka, after his DNF in Melbourne.
Japan Grand Prix has been the most entertaining of the season to date, but Max Verstappen was back to his winning ways.
This season is only four races old, but Fernando Alonso needs to decide on his future beyond this year sooner rather than later. Formula…
It’s a pretty good time to be a Tasmanian sports fan right now. After years in the sporting wilderness with not much to celebrate,…
The question remains where the Australian Grand Prix winner will be in 2025 and whether it’ll be somewhere his value can truly be appreciated.
