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Investigation continues into Vettel puncture
Pirelli continues to investigate the possible causes of Sebastian Vettel’s puncture in the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. After starting from pole position and leading the race, the World Champion was pitched off the circuit as his right-rear tyre suddenly deflated at Turn 2. The consequent damage forced Vettel to retire from the race.
Initially, some suggested that Vettel had taken too much kerb at Turn 1, although replays demonstrated that the German drove on no different line to any other competitor. Later in the evening.
Despite the suggestions, an official reason for the incident is yet to be issued.
“Together with Red Bull, we’re still examining the remains of Sebastian Vettel’s tyre in order to try and piece together what happened,” says Paul Hembery, Motorsport Director for Pirelli. “It certainly seems to be a very unusual incident and we’ve already been to look at the place with Sebastian.
“There seems to be no reason that is immediately obvious and the set of tyres was one that he had already used for qualifying. But, until we know for sure, there’s no point in speculating. With the dropping temperatures, our tyres were faced with slightly different track conditions to normal, with different teams trying a very wide variety of strategies, from one to three stops.”
The result marked Vettel’s first retirement since Korea last year and only Red Bull’s second non-finish of the 2011 season, following Mark Webber’s crash in Italy.
