Mclaren not satisfied with Pirelli tyre blow explanation, calls on FIA for transparency

During the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, both Max Verstappen and Lance Stroll experienced a tyre blowout on the long straight. Pirelli have faced their fair share of criticism for the incident, and it’s a topic that remains a talking point in the French Grand Prix paddock. McLaren team boss Andreas Seidl is disappointed about the lack of transparency.

Ahead of the race this weekend, Pirelli published an updated version of the technical directives regarding the tyres. Seidl suggested that McLaren won’t need to change anything as a result of this because they were already abiding by the regulations.

“You need to check on other teams to see what the impact is on these technical directives. On our side, it doesn’t change anything. I think the rules have been clear before, and there’s not something new in this technical directive. It was an interesting week to see the sequence of events, with the technical directive coming out and the carefully worded press releases from Pirelli and the teams,” Seidl told Sky Sports.

Whilst Seidl believes this won’t change anything for McLaren, he wishes to see a change in the process following the tyre failure. Seidl hopes for a more transparent process.

“What is disappointing to be honest for us is the lack of transparency. We still don’t know exactly what happened. it would help everyone in the paddock if this topic was treated with more transparency. Because in the end, it is a safety-critical topic which is worrying to all of us, especially the drivers. That’s what we are disappointed with,” he added.

“Again, we don’t know what other teams did but I can only speak for McLaren. I think the regulations were clear before, and it’s also clear why you get the prescriptions from Pirelli and what you have to do with them in a responsible way as a team. Because we all know sticking to it doesn’t put your drivers at risk. It doesn’t change anything from what we did in the past to what we do now, but it’ll be interesting to see if it affects other teams.”