14/09/2015
NEWS STORY
As it seeks guidance from the FIA, Pirelli has described Monza tyre pressure investigation a "misunderstanding".
In the two hours that followed Lewis Hamilton's total domination of the Italian Grand Prix, there were fears the Briton and his team might face exclusion from the results, as the stewards investigated an irregularity with the pressure in one of his tyres.
In the wake of two high-profile failures at Spa, which resulted in public criticism from Sebastian Vettel and others, Pirelli revised the recommended tyres pressures for the event at the high-speed Autodromo Nazionale.
After an agonising couple of hours, the Monza stewards announced that all was well and that no further action would be taken.
"Having heard from the technical delegate, team representatives and the Pirelli team tyre engineer, the stewards have determined that the pressure in the tyres concerned were at the minimum start pressure recommended by Pirelli when they were fitted to the car.
"In making this determination regarding the pressures, the stewards noted that the tyre warming blankets had been disconnected from their power source, as is normal procedure, and the tyres were significantly below the maximum permitted tyre blanket temperature at the time of the FIA’s measurement on the grid, and at significantly different temperatures from other cars measured on the grid.
"Further, the stewards are satisfied that the team followed the currently specified procedure, supervised by the tyre manufacturer, for the safe operation of the tyres. Therefore the stewards decide to take no further action."
However, the stewards recommended "that Pirelli and the FIA hold further meetings to provide clear guidance to the teams on measurement protocols".
The recommendation has the backing of Pirelli, which said today: "We will be defining, together with the FIA, a clearer procedure enabling the teams to more easily follow the rules regarding tyre usage.
"This is important to avoid any misunderstandings, by giving the teams more precise indications to comply with, thus avoiding what happened to Mercedes in Monza."