Changes made to Chapel kerb after tyre failures

Jamie Woodhouse
Lewis Hamilton Pirelli

Changes to the kerb at Silverstone’s Chapel curve will be reversed before the 70th Anniversary Grand Prix following a series of tyre failures.

This comes in response to the trio of tyre failures which were seen in the first of two race weekends at Silverstone, that being the British Grand Prix.

McLaren’s Carlos Sainz dropped out of the points after his left-front tyre failed in the closing stages, whilst Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas suffered the same fate.

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Race leader Lewis Hamilton also suffered a left-front tyre failure on the last lap but was able to nurse his W11 over the line to claim victory in his home race.

Pirelli have said that the failures were simply a result of the extreme pressure placed upon the tyres, though many drivers also discovered cuts to their tyres once the race had finished.

There was plenty of dirt being kicked up through the final part of Maggotts and Becketts since a section of kerb had been removed for this year, and there are fears that this was causing debris to find its way onto the track and cause the cuts.

Speaking about the cause of the cuts, and whether they were down to excessive ware or debris, Insideracing.com quote Pirelli motorsport boss Mario Isola as saying: “Probably some of the cuts that we found on Friday were caused by that and by the fact that some debris was trapped in the kerb obviously some cuts on the tyre.

“They are working around that, it’s a good action, it’s a good idea to have this small modification that is helping the situation.

“Cuts have been a topic of the week, I have to say, because of the fact that in some corners the cars are running wider, going somewhere [into] run-off areas and we had some parts of the circuit where the gravel was coming [on],” he added.

“When the tyre is hot it is very soft so that’s why we had some cuts on tyres.”

In addition an investigation has been launched into Daniil Kvyat’s heavy crash during the British Grand Prix.

Initially the Russian driver was furious with what he thought was his mistake, but it has since been confirmed that a left-rear picture caused him to crash upon entering Maggotts on Lap 11.

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