Ron Dennis has repeated his suspicion that a tyre defect deflated Lewis Hamilton’s podium chances in Turkey on Sunday.
The rookie Briton looked set to extend his drivers’ title lead even further over McLaren teammate Fernando Alonso at Istanbul until the outer tread on his right-front Bridgestone Potenza product peeled away.
Team boss Dennis is quoted as saying by the German newspaper Bild: “It was probably a material defect.”
Officially, however, the Woking based team says the cause of the problem is unknown, even if Alonso admitted that he was also worried about a tyre problem late in the 58-lap race.
The Spaniard said his Bridgestones were “not in perfect shape” over the last 15 laps or so in Turkey.
A Bridgestone spokesman said of Hamilton’s failure: “It was not a puncture, but other than that we do not know yet.
“The tyre is now being sent to Tokyo to be X-rayed.”
