• The copy of Racing Point, a sanction riddled with inconsistencies

Carlos Sainz's last message to Tom Stallard left no room for doubt at Silverstone. "The left rear tire is shattered," the McLaren leader explained to his track engineer at the close of the first free practice session of the 70th Anniversary GP. A week after the puncture that ruined his British GP, the Spaniard was once again suffering from the anguish transmitted by the tires.

The forecast of heat during the weekend was fulfilled this Friday at Silverstone, where 29ºC was registered in the air and 43ºC on the asphalt. The high temperatures further complicated the delicate situation with the tires, given Pirelli's intention to mount a softer compound than the one offered last week at Silverstone.

The tremendous degradation of the tires, which then triggered the punctures by Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton , continued to be a constant for most teams. "The left front wheel seems very hot," Renault told Esteban Ocon during the last minutes of this first session.

Front and behind

Similarly, Alpha Tauri engineers informed Pierre Gasly that he had no rubber left in his front left tire, the same one where his teammate Daniel Kvyat suffered evident graining problems.

However, the main news on Friday was that those problems also carried over to the rear wheels. "I have some vibrations in the back area, with fairly large blisters," Lando Norris explained to the McLaren wall. The Briton, ranked twelfth, entered up to eight times in the pits to change his tires, but could never find the ideal performance for the soft compound.

Sainz didn't settle well either, with a last 10-lap relay that was made too long for his MCL-35. The fourteenth time of Madrid, almost two seconds from the best time of the day, the work of Bottas (1: 26.166), illustrated the problems of the team led by Andreas Seidl .

Pirelli's investigation

Thus, the eyes of the second consecutive weekend at Silverstone will focus on Pirelli, who had to investigate what happened last week. The sole supplier of the World Cup concluded that the punctures by Hamilton, Bottas and Sainz had been caused by "a set of race circumstances".

According to the Italian brand, at Silverstone, "one of the most demanding circuits on the calendar", there was "extremely long use of the second set of tires", which was combined "with the superior pace of the 2020 F1", with one lap fast 1.2 seconds faster than last season. "

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