Pirelli believe that Nico Rosberg’s spectacular high-speed tyre failure during second practice at Spa-Francorchamps on Friday was caused by an external source causing a cut rather than any failure from within the tyre.
The Mercedes AMG PETRONAS driver was lucky not to hit the barriers heading towards Blanchimont after his tyre exploded, but after investigation by Pirelli, it is believed that something external caused the problem.
“We have no evidence of any weakness in the tyre or its structure,” said a Pirelli spokesman to Motorsport.com. “And we very much think that everything came from a cut coming from an external source.
“It’s nearly impossible to find from where exactly. We are also inspecting the whole track, as has been done some times in the past, to see if there is any kerb or any metal part, or so on.
“We didn’t have any indication either before or during FP2 of something strange. We want to have a final result by tomorrow morning, and we’ll be all night working.
“But there is no sign of fatigue of the tyre or any special stress or special weakness.”
It is believed Pirelli are still investigating the incident, and have sent the tyre back to its factory in Italy for further tests.
