Pirelli is Target of Vettel’s Rage

An unlucky tyre failure left Sebastian Vettel pointless and denied him a chance of being on the podium in August’s Belgian Grand Prix.

The tread came off the tyre on lap 29, and then the tyre failed causing him to finish the race early with no points on the board. Vettel berated the service he got from his tyres after the race.

A writer from the BBC defended him, “Vettel was not wrong to say what he did. A driver of his stature and experience should say what he feels”.

This isn’t the only complaint about the Pirelli rubber, “There is an underlying unhappiness among the grand prix drivers”, with drivers pointing out issues regarding “its performance profile, its grip level, how you have to deal with it, its general robustness”.

Along with this blow to Pirelli, they may lose the contract of being Formula One’s sole tyre supplier in 2017. The current deal lasts till the end of 2016, and for now, that is all that is keeping them as the number one supplier for Formula One tyres.

A few days later the drama is still making headlines with the grand prix drivers association. Alex Wurz, the chairman and former F1 driver, also had his say on the tyre’s performance stating “the end of a tyre performance window should not be a tyre delamination in the form of an explosion.”

To Pirelli’s defence, on Friday Vettel was testing the limits of the tyres and FP2 was halted for red flags, which meant the drivers didn’t know quite what the race was going to be like.

This Sunday afternoon, the Italian Grand Prix had been rumoured to be in danger of being boycotted by the drivers, but several statements in recent days seem to have allayed those fears.