Exploding Tires Leave Pirelli Needing Crisis Management

Crisis management in the fast lane for Italian company

When six racecars using your tires suffer not just flats, but massive blowouts that flung rubber and metal shrapnel into the path of other drivers, right in the middle one of the biggest races in the world, you’d better believe it’s crisis management time.

Pirelli’s problem

Pirelli is the exclusive provider of tires to Formula One races, and the happenings at this week’s  British Grand Prix would certainly fall under a “worst case” scenario for the company. The second tire trouble started all eyes were on Pirelli as fans, media and race teams alike furiously speculated as to the cause of the failures, with many assuming that, given such a large number of tire issues, the company producing them was at fault.

Thing is, acting as Formula One’s tire supplier comes with its own set of risks. First off, F1 tires must purposely be designed to wear out mid-race, a recent rule change meant to keep things exciting and unpredictable. In addition, the company is at the mercy of tour organizers and race teams when it comes to implementing changes in tire design. For example, teams voted not to implement new, kevlar-strengthened tires just weeks before the British Grand Prix, a move that could have prevented this crisis altogether.

Take responsibility for preventing crises

Of course, Pirelli could have done more preventative crisis management of its own as well. In an official statement, Pirelli places the lion’s share of the blame squarely on teams’ use of the tires, claiming that reversing which side rear wheels were mounted on, in addition to low tire pressure and high cambers (the angle at which tires are set to slant away from the car) caused the rubber to rapidly shred and deflate.

Thing is, as the official tire supplier to Formula One, shouldn’t you know that it’s become common practice to swap rear tires? In that same vein, isn’t it quite obvious that teams heavily tweak things like camber angles in order to squeeze out more performance? If, somehow, the company’s engineers weren’t aware of how race teams actually USE their product, don’t you think they should have sat down for a long, technical chat BEFORE releasing tires for use in events? It’s called due diligence, and we can say from experience that neglecting it WILL come back to haunt you.

Speed bumps, and moving on

Considering Pirelli essentially pays to supply tires to F1 racers in exchange for nothing but track-side advertising, we wouldn’t expect to see the tiremaker dumped for hitting one, albeit major, speed bump. On the other hand, the reason Pirelli wants that ad space is to push its tires to consumers, not pro racers, and if it doesn’t take immediate action to ensure any products put on the public stage are performing properly, it risks scaring buyers into spending with the competition. Now, that may mean butting heads with race organizers and teams alive, but if it was your organization’s name on the line, would you do any less?

The BCM Blogging Team
https://www.bernsteincrisismanagement.com/