Two high-speed tyre blowouts during the 2021 Azerbaijan Grand Prix may have been caused by external factors such as debris, Formula 1 tyre supplier Pirelli said on Sunday.
Red Bull's Formula 1 championship leader Max Verstappen and Aston Martin's Lance Stroll both crashed out after rear-left tyres blew suddenly at speed on the same stretch of straight.
Pirelli's F1 head Mario Isola said an inspection after the race was halted following Verstappen's crash found that Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton also had a damaged tyre: "First we need to clearly establish the facts behind the incidents.
"What we can say for now is that there was also a cut found on Hamilton's tyre, and that it's the rear-right tyre that actually works harder than the rear-left here.
"No warnings or vibrations were detected and none of the other tyres of a similar age or older showed any signs of excess wear. So we can not exclude that the damage was caused by an external factor," said Isola who acknowledged the urgent need for answers.
Verstappen angrily kicked the rear-left of his car after getting out of the wreckage but team bosses were careful not to speak of tyre failure.
"It looked like the (tyre) wear was all in good shape," said Red Bull boss Christian Horner. "We were managing the tyre pretty well... it suddenly deflated. Whether it's a bit of debris from the shunt earlier, you just don't know. Let's get the tyre back and look at it fully."
Stroll crashed on lap 31 of 51 when he was the only driver still to pit when he suffered an uncannily similar blowout that was to afflict Verstappen later in the race.
Verstappen's blowout happened five laps from the end, after the race re-started with drivers on fresh tyres. (Reporting by Alan Baldwin)
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