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Formula One should revert to last year’s tyres for safety reasons to prevent any repeat of Sunday’s dangerous British Grand Prix blowouts, according to Red Bull principal Christian Horner.
With the rubber exploding in a burst of debris, the championship-leading boss said urgent action was needed. “This is a Pirelli issue, they need to find a solution, they need to address it. Whether they go back to last year’s tyre or a different tyre they need a solution,” said Horner, who has called all season for the quick-wearing tyres to be harder and longer-lasting.
“The most logical thing would be to go back to the tyres that worked well for them previously. The tyres they had last year did not have these failures.”
Red Bull’s chief technical officer Adrian Newey said the situation at Silverstone was the result of ‘short-sighted’ behaviour by some rivals who had blocked Pirelli’s plans to change the tyres for Canada earlier in the month.
Tyres exploded in Sunday’s race, with cars travelling at speeds in excess of 200kph, and heavy strips of rubber landed in the path of following cars. Ferrari’s championship contender Fernando Alonso had a near miss when the rear left tyre on Sergio Perez’s McLaren exploded right in front of him.
