{"id":20959,"date":"2013-07-07T11:29:27","date_gmt":"2013-07-07T09:29:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/grand-prix-boycott-fears-fade-away\/"},"modified":"2013-07-07T11:29:27","modified_gmt":"2013-07-07T09:29:27","slug":"grand-prix-boycott-fears-fade-away","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/grand-prix-boycott-fears-fade-away\/","title":{"rendered":"Grand Prix boycott fears fade away"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t \"McLaren's<\/a><\/p>\n

McLaren\u2019s Sergio Perez exits the pit lane on the Pirelli medium compound tyres during Friday\u2019s practice for the German Grand Prix at the N\u00fcrburgring. Photo: Mark Thompson \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n

The threat of drivers boycotting today\u2019s German Grand Prix<\/a> seems to be fading away after almost 1,400 laps were done during practice without any hints of blow-outs that turned Silverstone<\/a> into a safety concern last Sunday.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe would not be racing if we did not feel the tyres were safe,\u201d said Pirelli\u2019s<\/a> motorsport director, Paul Hembery, after practice, adding that 1,000 tyres had been produced and shipped to Germany from its factory in Turkey within 48 hours.<\/p>\n

Hembery was backed up by Sebastian Vettel<\/a>, the three-time world champion, who went further to suggest that the Grand Prix Drivers\u2019 Association (GPDA) never had any intention of boycotting the race despite expressing its \u201cdeepest concerns\u201d over safety after meeting on Thursday.<\/p>\n

Vettel, 26 this week, said: \u201cWe didn\u2019t say that we won\u2019t race. We said that first of all we trust that the steps that Pirelli made are working and in practice I think they were. We came together but the point was not to threaten.\u201d \u2013 The Guardian<\/a><\/p>\n

Related articles<\/h6>\n