Is Tyre De lamination an Aesthetic Issue or a Safety Issue?

Reports are emerging that the planned tyre change from steel belts to kevlar belts that was originally planned for Canada, then deferred to Silverstone will now not take place in Britain and perhaps not at all.

For a change in tyre construction to occur mid-season it needs unanimous approval of all teams unless deemed to be a safety issue.

Unanimous approval looks extremely unlikely, and therefore the question to be raised is whether a tyre de-lamination is an aesthetic issue or a safety issue.

The steel belted tyres are designed not to deflate as a kevlar tyre would do once it has been cut. It appears however, that once a cut in the tyre does occur, there is a heat build-up which linked to the added difficulty in bonding the rubber to the steel belt can result in the tread flying off the tyre.

When using F1 as a global marketing platform, seeing the tread fly off one of your tyres is hardly a big sales winner for Pirelli - but is it dangerous?

Vettel alluded to the issue of debris on the track, by reminding us of Massa's accident in Hungary when the Brazilian required emergency surgery after being hit in the head by a suspension spring flying off the Brawn GP car of Rubens Barichello. I certainly wouldn't enjoy the prospect of driving into a flying tyre tread at 150 miles per hour! Paul Di Resta, himself a victim of a tyre delamination in Barcelona, has commented in the past of the pain caused by tyre marbles flying up and hitting his hands during races. A whole tyre tread would be a lot worse. 

We also saw in FP3 in Bahrain how Hamilton's suspension was destroyed by a delaminating tyre. It happened whilst he was on a straight with no other cars around him and he was able to limp back to the pits. It could have been a different story if it had happened in a corner or when surrounded by other cars.