Pirelli: McLaren tyre problem not due to delamination

Pirelli on Saturday insisted its rear delamination problems have not returned.

The Italian marque had wanted to debut a new kevlar-belted tyre at Silverstone circuit this weekend, but some teams objected against the fundamental change.

As a compromise, Pirelli is now fielding an identical specification tyre, but with a new sort of glue that should prevent the tread from separating from the carcass due to the overheating steel.

However, on Saturday, McLaren's Sergio Pérez suffered a rear failure, triggering suggestions Pirelli has not succeeded in solving its problems.

But Paul Hembery insists: "A cut in the side of the tyre shoulder was to blame," he told Germany's Auto Motor und Sport.

The failure caused damage to the floor and rear wing of Perez's updated McLaren, but luckily the team had a spare wing in its luggage.

As for the floor, "Sergio will have to use the old (specification) for the rest of the weekend", a source is quoted as saying.

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Leopold

Leopold Pleijsier founded F1-Fansite.com in 2001 and has followed Formula 1 since the early 1980s. He writes about daily F1 news, race weekends, drivers and the sport’s history.

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