MILAN, Italy—Pirelli Tyre S.p.A. is blaming the explosive race tire failures at this past weekend's British Grand Prix Formula 1 race on a combination of tire mounting and pressure irregularities, "excessive" camber settings and "aggressive" curbing in a number of left-hand turns.
"What happened at Silverstone was completely unexpected and it is the first time that has occurred in more than a century of sports history of Pirelli," said Paul Hembery, Pirelli's motorsport director, referring to the four explosive tire failures during the June 30 Grand Prix at Silverstone.
As a result, Pirelli is asking F1 racing's sanctioning body, the Federation Internationale de l'Automobile, to work with the sport's teams to ensure that Pirelli has "full access" to the teams' tire-relevant data so as to foster proper development and use of the race tires.
Pirelli also said it will revert to using aramid belts for the rear tires to be used at the Grand Prix of Germany this coming weekend, replacing the steel-belted versions used up to now this year. As the tire's basic design is asymmetrical, however, teams will only be allowed to mount the tires in the wheel position designated, Pirelli said.
The tire make said it also intends to redesign the tires to be used the remainder of the season to incorporate a symmetrical structure—based on the 2012 construction but using the 2013-spec compounds.