A decidedly hectic weekend that unfolded Lusail (Qatar), stage of the 2023 F1 World Championship. The Pirelli tires they ended up in the center of a real casegiven the interventions that have been made on the Qatari circuit in terms of asphalt and especially curbs.
WHAT HAPPENED?
Yesterday’s Shootout qualifying began 20 minutes later than the original schedule because critical issues were identified on the tires caused by the aforementioned curbs during free practice and qualifying on Friday. The International Federation had prepared emergency measures and, not surprisingly, an extra test session was held before the time-attack to verify the change in the trajectory in turn-12-13 by 80 centimetres. Pirelli had identified a gap between the compound and the casing on the shoulder of many tires that had been driven more than 20 laps.
THE FIA’S DECISION
It then emerged that the 10 minutes of testing before the Sprint had not provided the technicians of the Italian tire manager with sufficient elements to understand the evolution of the stresses of the curbs in longer stints. Consequently, it was decided to limit the life of the tires to no more than 18 laps (at least three pit stops). As communicated by the FIA: “The FIA and Pirelli will communicate to the teams the remaining laps available for each set of used tires at their disposal for the race, and the criteria used to calculate this number“.
RISK OF SANCTIONS
Again as reported by the Federation note: “Any car deemed to have exceeded the tire life limit per lap will be reported to the Stewards as being in breach of safety“.
Photo: LaPresse
2023-10-08 15:24:33
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