Qatar Grand Prix: Limit put on number of laps tyres can do over safety concerns
- Published
Max Verstappen wrapped up his third F1 world championship in Saturday's sprint race
Tyre-life limits have been imposed for Sunday's Qatar Grand Prix because of safety concerns at the Lusail circuit.
Analysis of tyres following Saturday's sprint race confirmed fears kerb damage at the track could lead to failures.
A mandatory limit of 18 laps of total tyre life has been imposed by governing body the FIA, which will force all teams to do a minimum of three stops in the 57-lap race.
Teams will be told how many laps each set of used tyres may run for.
If teams exceed the maximum tyre life, they will be reported to the stewards and can expect a penalty.
The issue first arose after Friday practice, when analysis of the tyres by Pirelli showed a separation in the sidewalls.
Pirelli believes the problem has been caused by so-called "pyramid" kerbs at the Qatar track.
Track limits restrictions were imposed for Saturday's sprint event at the high-speed Turns 12 and 13 to keep the cars off those kerbs at those corners.
The problem and the way it has been handled by the FIA has caused concern among the teams and drivers.
Drivers were unhappy to find out through unofficial channels, in some cases through the media, on Saturday morning and demanded a meeting with the FIA and clarity on the issue.
Mercedes driver George Russell, a director of the Grand Prix Drivers' Association, said: "I found out on WhatsApp, from another driver in our group chat, which is obviously not ideal."
There have also been questions as to why the kerbs remained in place after Pirelli raised concerns following a series of tyre failures in the last Qatar Grand Prix in 2021.
The issue was communicated to the teams and the FIA via a letter from Pirelli and discussed at the sport's legislative body, the FIA world council.
Ferrari's Carlos Sainz said: "What I don't appreciate and don't like is we were here in '21 and in the meantime there's been two years to react to these bad kerbs, there's been a resurface, redoing of the kerbs.
"Unfortunately, the FIA persisted with this design of kerbs that are killing Pirelli tyres.
"Not blaming Pirelli, but clearly there's something going on there. And at the same time, we arrive today in the morning and we see the news in the press when no one informs us there's going to be track limits, no one informs us that there's going to be tyres delaminating or anything like that and we have to learn things from the press which is clearly not how things should be done.
"As the GPDA, we were not happy with the situation and we hope that the collaboration starts getting better because if not, reading things in the press when our safety is involved [and] our input should be considered. It's not good enough."
An FIA spokesperson told BBC Sport the likely cause of the issue this year is the switch to 18-inch wheels in 2022, which have tyres with shallower sidewalls than the 13-inch wheels used in 2021.
The spokesperson said: "There was indeed an analysis by Pirelli of the issues in 2021 and an explanation of those issues to the WMSC.
"There were updates applied based on those findings.
"However, changes to the tyres in the interim (not least the switch to 18-inch rims), is what has most likely caused the issue to resurface.
"We will take the lessons learned this weekend, combined with additional simulations to be undertaken by Pirelli, to put further preventative measures in place for the future."
The spokesperson added changes were made to the both the kerbs and tyres following Pirelli's communications on the matter.
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