Rosberg claims Pirelli ‘warned’ F1 about potential tyre issues "six months ago"

F1 introduced emergency safety measures on Saturday in Qatar after Pirelli expressed concerns about the “separation in the sidewall between the topping compound and the carcass cords”.

As a result, track limits were altered at Turn 12 and 13, with the implementation of an additional 10-minute practice session ahead of the shootout.

Further measures were put into place for Sunday’s race, with all drivers only allowed to run on one set of tyres for a maximum of 18 laps, forcing the whole grid to make at least three pit stops.

Speaking on Sky Sports F1 on Sunday, Rosberg revealed that F1 ignored Pirelli’s concerns when they were raised earlier in the year.

“I actually heard that Pirelli did warn the sport six months ago,” Rosberg said. “They could see an issue. The sport didn’t listen. That was my latest information, actually.”

The FIA’s caution was unsurprising given that a number of drivers suffered from punctures in the inaugural event back in 2021.

Naomi Schiff explained why teams were “frustrated” by the situation.

“That’s one of the things that everyone is so frustrated about,” she said. “This issue existed back in 2021, we saw people having tyre failures. 

“The drivers and teams are frustrated that it wasn’t sorted out. It’s tough, out there a lot of things have changed since 2021 - the cars, the regulations, the tyre surfaces, the weight, the tyres themselves. I wonder if Pirelli overestimated the capability of the tyres now as opposed to what they were in 2021. 

“Unfortunately this weekend the regulations had to change, more than half way through the weekend, pretty much the regulations change each day. That’s frustrating especially when some of them suffered the consequence that these weren’t the rules on Friday when they used up some sets of tyres. It was almost a case of luck which tyres you did have available today.”