2013 just doesn’t seem to be getting any better for Italian tyre manufacturer Pirelli.
The Formula One season may well have ended, but the same problems seems to be affecting Pirelli.
During a private Pirelli test in Bahrain this week, Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg suffered a tyre failure at 320km/h.
The German broke the news via Twitter, writing: ‘Just spun at full speed 320km/h on Bahrain straight cause my tyre blew up without warning, before joking ‘Thanks to that need to get some toilet paper now,’ the message was deleted minutes after, but not before it had been quoted by all the on the ball news agencies around the world.
The damage to Rosberg’s Mercedes caused by the spin was so severe that they had to call an early end to it’s testing programme, leaving Red Bull, Ferrari and Toro Rosso at the track.
Pirelli later confirmed that the tyre involved in the incident was a prototype tyre for 2014, but after the failure it will not be used again.
‘The tyre tests in Bahrain regarded a number of prototypes, which were completely innovative in terms of structure and compounds, with the aim of developing the most suitable solutions for the next season,’ This morning Nico Rosberg’s Mercedes was fitted with one of these prototypes, a tyre which had only been tested in the laboratory and which will not be proposed again.
‘Thus, the safety of the tyres which will be supplied for the next Championship is not in question.’ A Pirelli spokesperson said via a statement.
It went on to add: ‘The accident which happened to Rosberg’s car is being investigated and the findings will be communicated to the FIA and the teams,’
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