Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsPirelli

'No structural integrity issue' with tyres - Pirelli

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Pirelli says it has completed its investigation in to Nico Rosberg's tyre failure during Friday practice for the Belgian Grand Prix, blaming it on "an external source".

Rosberg's right rear tyre failed dramatically when approaching Blanchimont at high speed, with the Mercedes driver fortunate not to hit the barrier as he eventually came to a halt in the run-off area. Following an investigation in to what Pirelli told F1i was a "strange" incident, the tyre supplier has now ruled out any structural issue.

"There are no signs of structural integrity issue of the tyre, neither on other tyres used by Mercedes nor on tyres used on other vehicles," Pirelli said in a statement.

"Video footage shows a tyre problem on Rosberg’s car which is consistent with an external cut into the tyre structure. Quality data check on other tyres has shown no anomalies."

Motorsport director Paul Hembery says the information points to the failure being caused by an external source.

“We have conducted a thorough investigation to find out exactly what happened with Nico’s tyre," Hembery said. "This investigation now excludes any structural integrity issues. Based on the information and data available an external source of damage is the conclusion made."

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.