LONDON • Pirelli's motorsport director Paul Hembery has revealed that the tyre company has completed its investigation into Sebastian Vettel's Belgian Grand Prix tyre blowout and will explain more at Ferrari's home race this week.
"We have finalised the investigation into Sebastian Vettel's tyre at Spa. Detailed conclusions from the technical analysis will be presented at Monza," Hembery said ahead of Sunday's Italian Grand Prix.
Vettel, the four-time world champion who joined Ferrari from Red Bull at the end of last season and has won twice this year, was furious after suffering a high-speed blowout on the penultimate lap at Spa while in third place.
Pirelli also announced that it would be bringing the same medium and soft compounds to Monza as were used at Spa.
The choice is, however, softer than the medium and hard used last year at Monza, a 53-lap race won by Lewis Hamilton for Mercedes after completing 25 laps on the former and 28 on the latter.
Monza is the fastest track on the Formula One calendar, featuring long straights and placing high energy loads on the tyres.
"We have the medium and soft compounds, a step softer than our nomination last year, which should be well suited to Monza and the emphasis on speed that this circuit always places," said Hembery.
"We're expecting a fair degree of wear and degradation, so the work done during free practice will be very important when it comes to calculating the optimal strategy."
After Monza, F1's Asian swing starts at the Sept 20 Singapore Grand Prix.
REUTERS