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Undriveable! The word Sainz used to describe his Renault after tyre blistering

"Undriveable!" The word Sainz used to describe his Renault after tyre blistering

02-07-2018 16:59

Carlos Sainz has described his Renault car as "undriveable" following tyre blistering during the Austrian Grand Prix. Renault weren't the only ones to note tyre blistering as Lewis Hamilton believes Pirelli should have reduced the tread.

Renault pitted their Spanish driver as soon as race-control deployed the VSC. He intended to utilise these for the rest of the race, but just 19 laps later, he was back in the pits for supersofts.

"Never again. It's something that we need to analyse because today the car was undriveable for 55 out of 70 laps of the race," Sainz told motorsport.

"Unfortunately our blisters arrive on lap five of each compound, except for the supersoft. It was vibrating everywhere I couldn't see the braking points, couldn't even turn the wheel."

Sainz eventually finished the race. His 12th place wasn't good enough to bring home the points for his team. Team-mate Nico Hulkenberg was the first man to retire from the race.

Pirelli will bring their reduced tread tyres to the British Grand Prix at the weekend. This is their 3rd and final Grand Prix with these tyres after outings at Barcelona and Paul Ricard. 

Renault boss Cyril Abiteboul claims that the blistering didn't show up during practice sessions on Friday and Saturday. He blames the heat of the track for the issues which developed during Sunday's race. 

"That came as a huge surprise, there was nothing that we could see like that on Friday," he told Motorsport.com. "Obviously Friday was very different ambient and track temperature. I guess that's most of the problem.