The International Automobile Federation is changing the Saturday program. After Friday’s analysis, Pirelli found damage to the tires, which could pose a danger to the riders. For this reason, it introduces several security measures.
The FIA writes in its report that Pirelli carried out a standard inspection of the tires on Friday, which had completed approximately 20 laps. During these inspections, it observed a frequent “separation in the side wall of the tire between the top material and the cord insert”. Competent authorities therefore have reasonable concerns that driving a larger number of laps could damage the integrity of the tire and cause defects.
They suspect the Qatari curbs to be the cause of the problems. When driving over the “50-millimeter pyramid curbs”, the sidewalls of the tire are exposed to a very high frequency of shocks, which does not occur on other circuits.
In order to prevent tire failures, Pirelli has prepared several measures together with the FIA.
Before Saturday’s program, the track limits will be adjusted in turns 12 and 13 (the track will be narrowed by 80 centimeters on the exits).
Before the sprint shoot-out, the riders will get 10 minutes to familiarize themselves with the circuit and the changes made. This training session will start at 15:00 which means that the start of the sprint shootout is moved to 15:20 our time.
Today’s 19-lap sprint will be followed by a thorough inspection of all tires. Pirelli will then decide whether it will be necessary to take further measures on Sunday.
If it turns out that the measures have not helped, there is a risk that on Sunday the maximum length of one stint will be set at 20 laps in the case of brand new and 22 laps in the case of used tires (counting the start/stop laps in qualifying). At the same time, the pilots will have to make at least three stops in the pits to change tires.
These are the two corners where the track limits will be modified now. As you can hear, the vibrations are audible and the high lateral load is resulting in the tyre separation. #QatarGP pic.twitter.com/DWRcLC4d8N
— Dr. Obbs (@dr_obbs) October 7, 2023
2023-10-07 10:32:05
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