Sebastian Vettel criticised Formula One’s tyre supplier Pirelli after he suffered a failure on the second-last lap of yesterday’s Belgian Grand Prix that denied him a podium finish.
Body: Vettel, the four-time world champion, was among several drivers to express their concerns with the Italian manufacturer. Nico Rosberg was fortunate to emerge unscathed from his 190mph tyre blowout on Friday.
The Ferrari driver was on the 28th lap of a surprising one-stop strategy at Spa-Francorchamps when he suffered the puncture.
“Things like that are not allowed to happen, full stop,” Vettel said. “If it happens 200 metres earlier, I am not standing here now. I don’t know what else needs to happen.”
Speaking to the BBC, Vettel added: “I think it is a sort of thing that keeps going around and no one mentions. It it is unacceptable.
“If Nico tells us he did not go off the track, he didn’t go off the track, why should he lie to us? It is the same with me, I didn’t go off the track; it is out of the blue the tyre exploded.”
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Vettel started eighth, but after switching to a one-stop strategy, was battling for third with the Lotus of Romain Grosjean when his tyre failed, which caused him to finish 12th and fall 67 points behind championship leader Lewis Hamilton in the drivers’ standings.
Following Rosberg’s blowout in practice on Friday, Pirelli suggested the damage to the German’s tyre was caused by debris or a kerb and insisted they were happy with their product.
Paul Hembery, the motorsport director of Pirelli, said: “I am not going to criticise Sebastian. It is a hot moment and I don’t want to enter into a war of words over that. It is pointless for everybody.”
In reference to Vettel’s strategy, Hembery added: “We were concerned when we saw the number of laps that were going to be done. Nobody really suggested they were going to do a one-stop race and it was a bit of a surprise. If anything, people were talking about doing three stops rather than two. If the race was one lap less everyone would have said what a genius approach because they would have been in the podium.”
Vettel’s woe was Grosjean’s reward as he picked up his and the Lotus team’s first podium finish since the United States Grand Prix in November 2013.
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