Pirelli is closely monitoring its tyres in Abu Dhabi, noting that several new kerbs at Yas Marina are not unlike those that caused punctures in the closing stages of last month's Qatar Grand Prix.
Four drivers suffered tyre issues at Losail on race day due to consistently running over specific kerbs according to Pirelli's investigation into the punctures.
Since, Formula 1's tyre supplier has focused closely on kerb usage, and Pirelli F1 boss Mario Isola is particularly concerned by two specific kerbs on the exit of two corners at Yas Marina.
"They are very similar [to Qatar], they are not exactly the same." Explained Isola, quoted by Motorsport.com. "Especially they are quite aggressive at the exit of Turn 5 and Turn 9.
"From Turn 1 to 4 they are the same as last year, and then we are different kerbs Turns 12, 13, 14, 15. The exit of turn 16 is the same as the last year. So we have differences compared to this year, and they are more aggressive.
"There are also different kerbs on the apex of the corners, but obviously the apex is different. First of all, because you have the unloaded tyres on the car that are on the apex.
"And second because the drivers can manage not to run too much on the apex, while I am more worried about the exit kerbs, especially in Turns 5 and 9, that are the most aggressive.
"Clearly we have a different situation compared to Qatar, it's a different speed, it's a different time they stay over the kerb, but it is in any case, something we have to consider, and we have to pay attention."
With drivers completing just a short number of laps in succession in free practice, predicting the impact of the kerbs on tyres over the duration of Sunday's race is difficult.
"The problem is that we don't have tyres with the number of laps that is comparable to the length of a stint during the race," Isola added.
"So, we can clearly also increase the number of checks that we do, but sometime, like it was in Qatar, it was not possible to predict what happened on the construction on the tyre, because it happened after several laps.
"Honestly, I'm not an expert on what is possible to do on kerbs, if they can be replaced, or if they can take them out or whatever, I don't know I rely on the FIA and what they can do.
"So that's why I think that it's useful to have a conversation and to highlight what we have found. I was also waiting for additional information coming from running this afternoon up, and then I'm sure that we can find a solution.
"I don't know what is possible to do now. So clearly, what we have to do is to analyse the tyres to try to understand if there is any potential area of concern, to analyse the data coming from the teams, to compare that with the level of stress that we saw in Qatar, so we have a lot of work to do now."
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