Mercedes had ‘no indication’ of Bottas’ F1 tyre failure - Wolff

Recovering from a poor start where he dropped down to 11th from sixth on the grid, Bottas converted to a one-stop strategy as he looked to jump Sergio Perez and Fernando Alonso for a spot on the podium.

Bottas’ front-left tyre punctured on Lap 33 and he was forced to drive very slowly back into the pit lane. 

He rejoined the race well down the order before retiring with a few laps to go.

Wolff revealed the puncture “came out of nowhere”.

“We tried to reconstruct it afterwards knowing where it happened and looking at the data and there was literally no indication, a tiny vibration, never enough to pit the car and again, unfortunate for him, he was the first to pick up the puncture,” Wolff explained.

Bottas confirmed that he had no hint of an incoming puncture.

“I don’t really know what happened, there was no warning, no vibration, the pace was still consistent, grip was still OK and it just happened,” Bottas said. 

“Initially I thought it was the wind getting stronger down the pits straight, because I felt the car was getting a bit sideways, but then I got the puncture in the first corner and, obviously, it was in the most unlucky point, just after the pit exit.”

The Finn was confident he’d have beaten Perez and Alonso to the podium without the puncture.

“Yes, I was getting some DRS but also traffic, but I should come out just five seconds behind him but on much fresher tyres, so, yes,” he added.

Pirelli’s Mario Isola said there will be an investigation into what caused the punctures with George Russell, Nicholas Latifi and Lando Norris all affected.

“Obviously we have to investigate, not the puncture, we know the front left was the most stressed position but in that case most of the puncture were after impact on the kerb so we need to understand if the loss of pressure was sudden or which kind of issue it was,” he said.

“We are sending the tyres back to Milan for a quick investigation what I’m telling you is just a preliminary visual investigation. But the tyres were working well, as predicted, most of the drivers were on a 2-stop strategy.”

Explaining Pirelli’s initial verdict, Isola said: “Sometimes we have some indication like vibrations growing, in that case we didn’t see anything, we have found some cuts on the tyres, on the sidewall on the tyres, that is obviously the weaker part of the tyre itself. 

“The level of wear was quite high, so we need to investigate, but the tyres were still in one piece, just losing pressure, the first suspect is the impact on kerbs was quite hard during the race and therefore causing this loss of pressure.”