McLaren’s Jenson Button is happy with Pirelli’s response to the tyre drama at Silverstone where five drivers suffered punctures during the race. Because the issues raised serious doubts about the driver’s safety, Pirelli decided to reintroduce the kevlar belt for this weekend.
“For me and I think for all of us it was really a shock the issues that we had at Silverstone. I think is good that we have another tyre here. One that has been tested and was used - obviously for last season - and was also tested this season. We don’t want recurrence of the issues that we had at Silverstone.”
“We’ve known for a few races that we have issues in terms of delamination, whether it comes from debris on the circuit or whether is just a tyre failure. It’s irrelevant. It’s the same outcome and the outcome is dangerous as you could see and it’s been there since Bahrain,” says Button.
“It’s great to see they’ve been able to turn it around so quickly after the weekend.”
“As long as the tyres won’t go ‘bang’ it’s great so I think it’s good for all of us. It’s a change for all of us and we have to wait and see. But there are reasons for doing it. It’s for safety.”
Asked if there’s still hope for improvements Button explained there are still those new parts to test which they couldn't put on the car at Silverstone because of the weather on Friday morning. “Hopefully those new parts that we have will help us on a circuit like this.”
“We are still developing this car. The difference is, it’s the development of this car that will help us next year. We still need to do a lot of work with this car to improve it but also to understand it. There’s no point to stop it now,” McLaren driver added.