The Qatar Grand Prix took a dramatic turn in just a few laps, starting from lap 30 when a yellow flag was waved for the mirror from Alex Albon’s Williams, which had fallen off the FW46 and landed off the racing line on the main straight.
The double yellow flag led to a penalty for Lando Norris, who received a ten-second stop-and-go penalty that dropped him to the back of the field. However, the race dynamics shifted significantly in the laps following this incident.
On lap 34, four laps after the yellow flag, two cars—those of Carlos Sainz and Lewis Hamilton—suffered left-front tire punctures almost simultaneously, prompting the race director to deploy the Safety Car. Earlier in the lap, during a lapping maneuver, Valtteri Bottas had moved off the racing line on the main straight, hitting Albon’s mirror and shattering it.
At that point, the race director had no choice but to neutralize the race, allowing marshals time to clear debris from the track. Given that a Virtual Safety Car would have made it challenging to ensure track safety for the marshals, the decision was made to deploy the Safety Car, with drivers routed through the pit lane.
Lewis Hamilton’s tire was already losing pressure
Due to the near-simultaneity of Bottas hitting the mirror and the punctures, it was initially assumed the debris caused the tire failures. However, as Mercedes explained, the left-front tire puncture on Hamilton’s car was not caused by the shattered mirror debris, as the tire had already started losing pressure before passing that part of the track.
“We have video data showing exactly when the mirror shattered and broke into pieces. We also have car telemetry allowing us to monitor tire pressure in real-time,” explained Andrew Shovlin in a video published by the team, confirming suspicions raised during the race via team radio.
“Surprisingly, we noticed that Lewis’s tire began losing pressure before Bottas hit the mirror. So, it’s unlikely the puncture was debris-related. That’s what we initially thought, as the events seemed almost simultaneous.”
While the mirror debris may not have caused Hamilton’s puncture, it doesn’t rule out other factors, such as hitting another piece of debris on the track or damaging the tire on a curb. Pirelli’s analysis will provide further clarity on the exact cause of the puncture.
“It doesn’t mean he didn’t hit debris elsewhere, but we’ll have to wait for Pirelli’s investigation. They will conduct detailed checks on all the tires to determine if there was any structural failure, given the high loads on the left-front tire,” Shovlin added.
Interestingly, Carlos Sainz also reported issues with his left-front tire before lap 34, as evidenced by his team radio where he asked his team to check the pressure while navigating the final corner on lap 33. The puncture became apparent shortly afterward, with the tire failing mid-lap.
Tire wear made the tires more vulnerable
As Shovlin emphasized, the Qatar track imposes extremely high loads on the left-front tire, particularly in turns 4, 5, and the high-speed sequence in the third sector. While thermal degradation was relatively low due to cooler temperatures, the high-speed forces led to significant wear, exposing the tire carcass lap after lap.
Although performance remained consistent during the first stint, as evidenced by Max Verstappen setting the fastest lap just before the Safety Car, tire wear was high. Pirelli’s initial analysis revealed that many of the tires used in the opening stint were worn to their structural limits.
In practice sessions, some drivers completed 23 laps on a single set of medium tires, albeit with recovery laps in between, while the sprint race involved 19 laps. However, no stint during the weekend had pushed tire longevity as far as seen in the Grand Prix.
Excessive wear on some parts of the tread exposed the tire carcass, making it more susceptible to punctures, potentially caused by debris, aggressive curb usage (despite re-profiling efforts this year), or gravel on the track. Pirelli is investigating these factors. When pressure begins to drop, the tire can no longer support high loads and ultimately fails.
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