Di Resta Hit By Chunks of Pirelli Tires in Malaysia Race

Tire wear has been taken to the next level in Sepang this past weekend, as the Pirelli tires for the Malaysian Grand Prix made their presence felt on the track (literally) through discarded chunks outside the racing line.

From mid-race onwards, one could have easily noticed the racing line on the circuit, as the rest of the track was full of chunks of Pirelli's synthetic compounds, that fell once tires degrade. And according to Force India's Paul di Resta, this process posed safety problems late in the race, as some tire “marbles” have actually hit the British driver during the closing stages of the running.

“Come the end of the race, it gets difficult to overtake,” said the Scottish driver, who recorded his second point-scoring performance in F1 last weekend, according to the Telegraph.

“The other big thing is that they kept coming up and hitting me in the hands. In the middle of a fast corner, these lumps of rubber would be smacking into my hands as I turned the wheel. Rubber is not the softest material and if it got you in the right place, it could hurt,” added Di Resta.

Asked about such issues, Pirelli's motorsport director Paul Hembery insisted that none of the race leaders had any complains regarding the chunks of rubber laid on the Malaysian track, but that he will look into it and try to prevent such situations from happening in the future.

“I have not had those comments from the top three (finishers) but if it's an issue, we will have to confront it. There was a lot of overtaking though. We will have to analyze all the overtaking maneuvers but the marbles have to go somewhere and that is a difficulty for us,” said the Pirelli official.