Pirelli says Losail kerbs caused tyre failures in Qatar

Pirelli's investigation into the tyre failures that impacted four drivers in Qatar has concluded that excessive running over the Losail's kerbs led to the ruptures.

Mercedes' Valtteri Bottas, McLaren's Lando Norris and Williams drivers George Russell and Nicholas Latifi all suffered a left-front tyre failure during the race.

While Bottas, Norris and Russell were able to pit for a fresh set of rubber, Latifi's puncture left the Canadian stranded out on the track.

A post-race analysis of the tyres' carcases back at Pirelli's base revealed that use of Losail's kerbs had damaged the left-front tyre's structure.

• Read also: Bottas and Norris had no warning of 'dangerous' tyre failures

"Based on the findings obtained so far, the origin of the problem is mainly due to the amount of time these tyres were run on the kerbs, at high speed and with considerable lateral and vertical loads: a situation unique to the Losail circuit," Pirelli said in a statement on Friday.

"The heavy demand caused by running over these kerbs, which isn't possible to measure from the data available before the race, damaged the tyre construction and led to a loss of pressure in the internal sidewall, which consequently caused the structure to collapse after several seconds."

Pirelli, who shared its findings with F1's teams, also explicitly ruled out any "production defects' that may have caused the tyres to fail.

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