Daniil Kvyat, Toro Rosso, Silverstone, 2020

Tyre not responsible for Kvyat crash, Pirelli confirms

2020 British Grand Prix

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Pirelli says Daniil Kvyat’s British Grand Prix crash was caused by a mechanical problem, not a tyre failure.

Kvayt crashed heavily at the high-speed Maggotts corner during Sunday’s race. The AlphaTauri driver initially believed he had been responsible for the crash, but replays showed his right-rear tyre collapsed, causing him to lose control.

After sending the remnants of Kvyat’s tyre back to its base in Milan for study, Pirelli discovered it had failed due to a problem with the tyre bead, which connects the rubber to the wheel. This was caused by another mechanical problem.

“Together with Scuderia AlphaTauri, Pirelli has concluded an investigation into the precise cause of the incident that resulted in Daniil Kvyat hitting the wall during the British Grand Prix on lap 12,” said Pirelli in a statement.

“A separate mechanical issue led to the inside of the right-rear wheel rim overheating, which in turn burned the bead of the tyre. As a result, the bead was no longer able to seal the tyre onto the rim.

“This is what caused the subsequent deflation, with the tyre itself playing no part in the cause of the accident.”

Kvyat said the crash was one of the biggest he has experienced in Formula 1. “That was also good to remind me a Formula 1 car in general when I drive it alone it feels slow,” he said in response to a question from RaceFans. “But when the wall comes at you at that speed you remember that we are actually travelling at a very, very high speed.”

A new tyre barrier has been added at the site of Kvyat’s crash ahead of this weekend’s second race at Silverstone.

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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15 comments on “Tyre not responsible for Kvyat crash, Pirelli confirms”

  1. Surprising as I heard a pop and saw it pop off the rim on the rearwards looking on-board, at 11:17.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_KUJIUkOdI

    1. Bit too hasty, but I’m suspicious. Bet the team monitor temps.

  2. A separate mechanical issue led to the inside of the right-rear wheel rim overheating, which in turn burned the bead of the tyre. As a result, the bead was no longer able to seal the tyre onto the rim.

    It sounds like the brake disc got excessively hot. With all the recent publicity concerning brake ducts and their importance, maybe this is what happens when you don’t get the brake ducts right.

    1. Maybe it is as simple as debris or a tearoff visor blocking the brake duct?

    2. @drycrust You would think the team would see that on the telemetry & that the brake disc itself would fail before anything else.

      Something I remember seeing happen before is for debris (Usually a bit of gravel) to get lodged between the rim & the brake duct with the friction causing the rim to overheat & at times fail. I think Hamilton had that happen at McLaren at least once.

      1. Yes. IIRC there have been instances of trapped gravel between the hub and the rim machining a groove into the rim until it failed. I’m assuming it was something like that here.

      2. You would think the team would see that on the telemetry & that the brake disc itself would fail before anything else.

        I agree with your thoughts on the telemetry, but I’m not so sure I like the idea of the brake disc failing. That’s sounds rather frightening. If the team knew about the high brake disc temperature and didn’t notify Daniil of the situation with his brakes then they need to own that. As I’ve said before, if you set up someone to fail and they fail, did they do what you wanted?

      3. You would think the team would see that on the telemetry & that the brake disc itself would fail before anything else.
        It depends where the fault is. If the brake disc is getting too hot the teams can see it. If the whole wheel rim is getting too hot the teams can probably see that too. Or if the air is getting too hot inside the tire the teams can see that too. But if it is a small mechanical issue it might be impossible to detect unless you have a heat sensor at that specific spot. For example if there is a part of the hub that scrubs against the wheel rim right next to the place where the tire and the wheel are connected. That hotspot is then very localized and could only occur during braking and/or cornering. So you can have a very high temperature hotspot in one small area but overall there could be miniscule change of heat in the parts you measure. But in those hotspots the heat can be way above the operating limit and as such can create issues that can not be seen in telemetry.

        1. The quote broke, here is a cleaned up version:

          You would think the team would see that on the telemetry & that the brake disc itself would fail before anything else.

          It depends where the fault is. If the brake disc is getting too hot the teams can see it. If the whole wheel rim is getting too hot the teams can probably see that too. Or if the air is getting too hot inside the tire the teams can see that too. But if it is a small mechanical issue it might be impossible to detect unless you have a heat sensor at that specific spot. For example if there is a part of the hub that scrubs against the wheel rim right next to the place where the tire and the wheel are connected. That hotspot is then very localized and could only occur during braking and/or cornering. So you can have a very high temperature hotspot in one small area but overall there could be miniscule change of heat in the parts you measure. But in those hotspots the heat can be way above the operating limit and as such can create issues that can not be seen in telemetry.

  3. Interesting quote from Kvyatt – “That was also good to remind me a Formula 1 car in general when I drive it alone it feels slow,” he said in response to a question from RaceFans. “But when the wall comes at you at that speed you remember that we are actually travelling at a very, very high speed.”

    Sometimes it looks slow on the telly, apparently same goes for being in the car.

  4. A new tire barrier has been added where Kvyat crashed, and I guess we know what old and decrepit tires they used…last weekend’s.

    1. Pirelli’s!! lol

  5. F1oSaurus (@)
    7th August 2020, 8:20

    “This is what caused the subsequent deflation, with the tyre itself playing no part in the cause of the accident.”
    Pirelli really is in PR overdrive. You could say it wasn’t Pirelli’s fault the tyre deflated, but the tyre deflating most definitely was the cause of the accident.

    1. Did Pirelli run over your cat or something? You’ve really got it in for them.

      It’s a simple matter of physics that specific rubber compounds will soften and then melt above specific temperatures.
      If Pirelli says the bead overheated and failed, and you have no proof to assert otherwise, why even bother commenting?

  6. I’m glad Kvyat has been exonerated of blame. He was really beating himself up on the radio after the crash.

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