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Pirelli Unveils Truth Behind Hamilton & Sainz’s Qatar GP Tyre Failures – Was It Avoidable?

Harry Bright by Harry Bright
February 3, 2025
in Motorsports
Reading Time: 4 mins read
0
F1’s 12-Team Vision: FIA’s Ben Sulayem Challenges the Status Quo with Cadillac Breakthrough

Formula One F1 - Qatar Grand Prix - Lusail International Circuit, Lusail, Qatar - December 1, 2024 Ferrari's Charles Leclerc, Ferrari's Carlos Sainz Jr., Red Bull's Sergio Perez, Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton and Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso in action during the race REUTERS/Rula Rouhana

🚨 Breaking: Pirelli’s Investigation Confirms Teams Gambled Too Hard at Qatar GP! 🚨

After months of speculation, Pirelli has finally revealed the findings behind the dramatic tyre failures that ruined the races of Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz at the 2024 Qatar Grand Prix.

Initially, many believed that debris from Alex Albon’s detached mirror, which Valtteri Bottas ran over on the start-finish straight, was the cause. However, Pirelli’s final analysis tells a very different story—and it exposes a major risk teams will have to manage better in 2025.


🔍 The Real Reason for the Qatar GP Blowouts

📌 Key finding: The failures were not caused by debris. Instead, they were due to excessive wear.

Pirelli’s investigation confirmed that both Hamilton and Sainz’s front-left tyres reached their absolute wear limit after being pushed too far beyond their intended lifespan.

💬 Andrew Shovlin (Mercedes) had already suspected this before Pirelli’s final report:
“Surprisingly, we can see Lewis start to lose pressure prior to the mirror being hit by Valtteri. We would therefore say it is unlikely that it was a debris puncture.”

📊 The data showed:

  • Qatar’s high-grip, smooth surface doesn’t cause excessive thermal degradation, but it does accelerate wear due to the high-speed nature of the track.
  • The front-left tyre takes extreme stress, making it the first to hit the critical 100% wear limit—where failure becomes inevitable.
  • Even in the sprint race, some teams saw tyres hitting 100% wear after just 19 laps—indicating that risk management was going to be crucial in the full race.

❌ The Problem: Teams gambled by stretching tyre stints too long, hoping for a Safety Car or VSC.


🚦 How Did It Happen? A Risk That Backfired

With 57 laps in the Qatar GP, Hamilton and Sainz stretched their first stints to 35 laps—pushing their tyres dangerously close to their limit.

🛑 Why? Teams anticipated a Safety Car or Virtual Safety Car (VSC) due to Albon’s stranded mirror on the track and wanted to minimize pit stops.

❌ But the gamble backfired, as the Safety Car never came, and their tyres reached the breaking point.


🛠️ What’s Next? Could FIA & Pirelli Take Action for 2025?

With Pirelli clearing debris as the cause, the focus now shifts to preventing a repeat of these failures in the future.

🔄 Potential solutions being discussed:
✅ Softer tyre compounds – Moving the tyre selection one step softer for Qatar GP could force teams to pit sooner by introducing thermal degradation before the tyres wear out completely.
✅ Stronger FIA warnings on stint lengths – A repeat of the 2023 maximum stint length rule is unlikely, but teams may be encouraged to pit earlier.

🔮 Will teams take the hint, or will we see another tyre failure gamble in 2025?


💬 Final Thoughts: Who Was at Fault?

📌 Pirelli’s findings clear them of blame, showing that the tyres worked as expected—teams just pushed them too far.

📌 Should the FIA enforce stricter rules to prevent such risks, or should teams be responsible for managing their own strategies?

📢 What’s your take? Was this a calculated risk gone wrong, or a failure of F1 regulations to protect drivers from extreme wear-related failures?

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