Red Bull and Pirelli are none the wiser as to how Sebastian Vettel’s tyre deflated on the opening lap of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, despite a two-day investigation.
Pirelli, working with the outfit, has ruled out structural failure as the cause and don’t believe debris can be blamed, as a thorough sweep of the corner and surrounding area brought up no significant pieces able to damage the tyre.
“We can confirm that a structural failure was not the cause of Sebastian Vettel’s deflation in Abu Dhabi, a conclusion that we have arrived at together with Red Bull Racing following a detailed examination and analysis of the remains of the tyre,” Pirelli’s motorsport boss, Paul Hembery said in a statement.
“We cannot rule out debris on the track causing damage to the tyre, which then provoked a deflation, but having looked at the track closely there is no direct evidence of this,” he added.
Meanwhile, suggestions have emerged that hot-blowing exhaust gases from the RB7 may have damaged the tyre, but this has been dismissed by team principal Christian Horner, who said the start procedure and configuration around that area were the same as at previous races.
“Sebastian’s start procedure was the same as Mark’s, and the same it had been all season,” he told Autosport. “We were also running in the same configuration as before, so there is no reason why we should suddenly suffer a problem.”
A definitive answer as to the cause of the deflation isn’t expected.
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