British GP 2013: What Is Pirelli Playing At?

Image: Daily Telegraph

After a naughty Mercedes secret test, complaints over melty tyres ruining F1, and motorsport safety being thrown back under the spotlight after recent tragedies, it's fair to assume Pirelli wanted a nice, quiet, uneventful Silverstone grand prix. Understated, and well-behaved. The very best of British.

Image: Daily Telegraph

Er, try again, chaps.

The dream of a controversy-free race went BANG on lap 9, as Lewis Hamilton, bravely fending off the charging Red Bull of championship-leader Vettel, suffered a high-speed left-rear tyre failure. As he limped back to the pits, every British fan cursed Hamilton's bad luck, wondering who had tagged him at the start, or which marshal had perhaps missed a crucial piece of debris on the circuit.

Image: Daily Telegraph

When Massa dropped his Ferrari exiting Aintree corner two laps later, it was no longer bad luck - this was serious. Another high-speed left-rear blow-out, with no contact or spins to pre-weaken the tyre. The plot thickened, and Pirelli's shareholders' sphincters clenched.

At lap 15, they must've full-on papped themselves. Jean-Eric Vergne did very well not to do the same, as - you guessed it - his left-rear tyre let go at over 160mph on the Hangar Straight, chundering debris all over the track and bringing out a safety car. Meanwhile, Red Bull's engineers had found worrying slices in Vettel's tyres after an early pit-stop, indicating that the sticky Pirelli rubber wasn't up to the high-speed corners and kerb abuse the race caused. In other words, the tyres were dangerous, and the drivers were duly warned via team radio. Just what you want while you're strapped into a fuelled-up carbon fiber missile being watched by the world - your actual wheels trying to sabotage you at high speed.

Pirelli will have a few excuses lined up. Firstly, they'll say that a tougher tyre compound was offered, and the teams rejected it. Well, duh. Practise sessions were deluged with rain, so no-one had enough time to get to grips (sorry) with the super-hard tyre. Next the Italian tyre outfit will doubtless complain it's the FIA's fault for commissioning deliberately flaky tyres to try and create interesting racing. It's up to you who's side you're on, but I'll say if safety is being compromised on the most demanding circuits because of naff rubber, we've gone too far. Sergio Perez's McLaren also fell victim to a mighty left-rear blow-out later in the race, ramming home the issue.

Image: Daily Telegraph

Ask anyone who witnessed the 2013 British Grand Prix which the best laps were, and I guarantee they'd pick the last eight laps. A straight fight to the finish, with the cars mostly on fresh rubber after a safety car period to collect Vettel's broken-down Red Bull (should the British fans have cheered when he pulled up?). Anyhow, the final eight laps saw all drivers going hell for leather, not worried about saving fuel or looking after tyres; it was all about on-the-limit driving and points-scoring glory. Take note, FIA...

Congratulations to Nico Rosberg in any case, and props to Hamilton and Webber for fighting back after early setbacks, to get 4th and 2nd respectively.

After yet more tragedy in motorsport this weekend (Lamborghini Super Trofeo driver Andrea Mamé was killed in a five-car pile-up at the Paul Ricard circuit today - RIP) we're glad to have all our F1 drivers back safely in the paddock after a high-octane, high-stakes race. They've shown they can still race like true heroes. Your move, rule-makers.

Image: Martin Ricketts/Guardian