Pirelli blamed debris for Vettel Puncture at Abu Dhabi
The sole tyre supplier of F1, Pirelli have ruled out a structural failure of their tyre as the cause for World Champion Sebastian Vettel's sudden puncture at 2011 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. Sebastian Vettel started the race on pole. Just after his first two corners into the race, his right rear tyre burst spinning him out of the track. Vettel managed to take the car to the pits on three left tyres. But the car experienced suspension damage due to which Vettel retired immediately.
The Italian company, Formula One's sole tyre provider, suggested in a statement, that debris on the track could be to blame for the double World champion's first race retirement in more than a year. This is also the first retirement of Vettel for this season. Apparently the retirement came only after he has crowned 2011 World Champion.
It was assumed initially that there may have been structural failure of his right rear tyre, which may have caused the puncture. Pirelli though has revealed that it is not the case, and that it is the debris on the track which has caused the puncture and the eventual retirement of the German driver.
“We can confirm that a structural failure was not the cause of Sebastian Vettel's deflation in Abu Dhabi, a conclusion that we have arrived at together with Red Bull Racing following a detailed examination and analysis of the remains of the tyre,”Pirelli’s motorsport director Paul Hembery said.
“We cannot rule out debris on the track causing damage to the tyre, which then provoked a deflation, but having looked at the track closely there is no direct evidence of this,” he further added.
Vettel was also perplexed at the situation and said that he wanted a full investigation into the incident. Although he did mention that he was not ruing too much on losing out on another possible win as he had gotten the lead at the start. Looking at the sheer dominance of his performance, it was very much possible that he may have finished as the winner in the end.