Pirelli could alter "ridiculous" Baku F1 tyre pressure stipulations
Pirelli is considering changing the minimum tyre pressure limits ahead of final practice for the inaugural Formula 1 race in Baku amid criticism they are too high
On Friday, Romain Grosjean said he hoped Pirelli would review the rear pressure, which is currently 22psi, while after practice, Lewis Hamilton said the pressure was "ridiculous".
"We have a new record on tyre pressures so they were obviously worried coming to this weekend," added Hamilton.
"They pumped up the rears to 22psi, which is the highest we've ever had this tyre, which is ridiculous.
"But it's driving OK, so as long as there are no blow-ups we'll do what we can with that."
But Pirelli racing manager Mario Isola said the tyre supplier will analyse data overnight and make changes if required.
"We are going to analyse the data, compare the real telemetry data with the simulation to understand if we need to modify the prescriptions," he said.
"We don't intend to modify the camber as they already have set up the car with the camber but we need to understand if we have room to modify pressure.
"That can mean going down or going up, because if we underestimated the severity of the circuit we are obliged to maybe go up, or if we overestimate we can go down.
"Usually this doesn't happen for a circuit that we know because the simulation is very accurate, the historical data is available when we decide the preview.
"We do the same analysis after FP2, but in 100 per cent of the cases until now we confirm the prescription.
"This could be the first case in which we have to change the prescription because we have none of this data available."
KERBS WERE CUTTING TYRES
GP2 qualifying, scheduled for between F1 practice sessions on Friday, was postponed so FIA race director Charlie Whiting could assess the quality of the kerbs.
Isola said Pirelli had noted cuts in many cars' tyres during the morning.
"We found on most of the tyres used in the last part of FP1 there were cuts on the left-rear, all the cuts were in a certain position so more or less all the same," he said.
"I can say 90% of the cars had cuts so it was quite a good indication that something had to be investigated.
"Charlie found a couple of turns where some small bolts came out, so they fixed it but they had to postpone GP2 qualifying.
"I think they are going to work tonight to have a final solution on that.
"In FP2 we checked the tyres and we didn't find anything, so everything is OK now."
Nico Rosberg was critical of the state of the kerbs in the morning but praised the quick work to make changes.
"I had a big cut in my tyre and it nearly went through," he said. "That's quite risky.
"But then they seemed to sort it out quite quickly so they've done a good job."
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