McLaren CEO Zak Brown has called for “total transparency” from Pirelli and the FIA following the tyre failures at Baku two weeks ago.
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll both suffered rear-left tyre failures along the start/finish straight during the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
Following Pirelli’s investigation, it found that the failures were due to “a circumferential break on the inner sidewall, which can be related to the running conditions of the tyre,” despite factors such as minimum pressures and maximum blanket temperatures being followed.
Red Bull and Aston Martin both released their own statements in which they asserted that they followed all guidelines set by Pirelli throughout the weekend.
Brown says that he was not left satisfied by Pirelli’s explanation for the failures, as he is still unsure what caused them.
“I don’t think they explained in detail what happened,” Brown said. “I think we’re all left kind of guessing at what we think happened.
“And of course, you’ve seen the other teams kind of contradict, if you like, what’s been stated. So I think the reality is we don’t know, in a very black and white manner, exactly what happened.
“We kind of have a general idea, but then you have Pirelli and the two teams, they certainly don’t seem to be aligned in what happened, and therefore I think we need to understand what happened.”
Brown added that when considering safety elements of the sport, all parties involved should be open with their communication and explanations.
“I think we need, especially when something comes to safety, total transparency from Pirelli and the FIA, so we can understand exactly what happened, to make sure from a safety point of view it doesn’t happen again,” Brown said.
“I think if you look at the airline industry, like when there’s an incident, it’s total transparency because of what’s at stake if problems re-occurred.
“I get teams want to protect their IP or their set-ups or whatever might be disclosed. But I think when it comes to safety, safety has to come first always.
“We’ve got no issue over the seriousness of which they take safety. I think we need to have the sport be more transparent.
“[For example], here are Pirelli’s findings, share it with everybody and we’ll know exactly what happened. If there’s a consequence of that that teams are doing something they shouldn’t, then that’s a separate sporting issue.”
