Formula 1 tyre supplier Pirelli has confirmed that “totally different” tyre issues affected Kimi Räikkönen and Sebastian Vettel during the closing stages of the British Grand Prix.
Räikkönen, running in second, slowed with a problematic front-tyre, and toured back to the pits, with his delay promoting Valtteri Bottas into second and Vettel third.
However, Vettel suffered a puncture one lap later and dropped down to seventh position, elevating Räikkönen back into third, and the German's title advantage over Lewis Hamilton was cut to one point as a result.
Both Räikkönen and Vettel were running on the Soft tyre during the closing laps, having both started on the Supersoft compound, but Pirelli says the issues were unrelated.
“Two totally different troubles, totally, totally different,” said a Pirelli spokesperson post-race.
“Sebastian got a fail, a puncture, he was very much in the end. From what? We don't know exactly.
“For sure, he flat-spotted when he was fighting with Bottas.
“Maybe he was fighting sometimes on the kerb, because he was defending a position and so on. But he was simply making his job.
“The difference with Kimi is that when he came to the pits, the tyre was totally inflated, he was not having a total failure to the tyre – it was worn out, of course.
“With Kimi, the tyre is inflated, and you see all the tread worn out, starting to show the cable.
“With Vettel, you see the tyre worn out, which was broken on the inside, because of a puncture.”
Pirelli will conduct a thorough investigation into the respective problems in the coming week.
