The Lusail International Circuit is tough on tyres especially in terms of lateral forces, a factor Pirelli predicted would largely impact the performance and wear of the tyres even prior to the weekend. The left front tyre is particularly susceptible to these effects, and Pirelli bought the hardest compound range available to Qatar to deal with its Silverstone/Suzuka-levels of tyre stress.

Despite high levels of lateral load and high tread wear over the grand prix, Pirelli noted that this did not correlate with a drop in performance on the medium tyre. This meant teams looked to extend their stints with results in mind, with most drivers going at least ten laps over Pirelli’s predicted medium compound stint length of 19-25 laps.

On lap 31, Carlos Sainz radioed his team to say “my front left is starting to struggle” but that he could keep going for as long as the team wanted. At the end of that same lap, he commented that he “would be careful with punctures”. Ferrari were looking to extend their first stint with Sainz, and encouraged him to keep pushing on lap 33. Come the end of his lap though and Sainz asked his engineer to check the pressure of his front left tyre, and by lap 34 the front left had punctured.

It was a similar story on Lewis Hamilton’s side, with the puncture fully appearing by the start of lap 34. In both cases, the front left tyre appears to split from the inner sidewall.

Both drivers reported these punctures before they had reached the point where the debris from Albon’s mirror was on the straight, indicating that high wear levels were more likely to be behind the punctures than the debris itself. Despite this, Mario Isola didn’t rule out the impact of debris; “When you reach a certain level, then even the smallest piece of debris can cause a situation like the one we witnessed today.”

The accounts of other drivers, such as Charles Leclerc, are in line with wear being the cause of the punctures, “I was on the limit of a puncture with the way I was driving and taking those kerbs very aggressively. But I knew it was needed for performance,” he explained on the BBC’s Chequered Flag podcast.

Additionally, Pirelli’s analysis of the tyres after the 19-lap Sprint race indicated that some cars had reached a 100% wear level on one third of the fuel level of a grand prix distance and in one third of the laps. Despite this, Isola suggested that “the drivers can manage the medium tyre wear to survive until they reach the appropriate pit-window”, following what was seen in the Sprint.

But Pirelli noted very similar levels of performance over the C1 and C2 compounds with almost no degradation and thus no requirement for drivers to manage over the race distance. Pushing the tyres beyond their predicted stint length seemed to result in very high wear levels and risk of puncture, potentially exacerbated by debris on track. With this focused on the front left tyre, Isola said it was “no coincidence” that Sainz and Hamilton’s punctures were on this tyre.

As is protocol following any such incidents, Pirelli will conduct an investigation, as detailed by Isola: 

“We will now analyse in detail the damaged tyres, as well as a selection of other tyres. Along with the telemetry data we have acquired and on-board footage from the cars, they will be sent to our laboratory in Milan.

In addition, we will carry out all the usual checks on the stresses to which the tyres were subjected.”