Mario Isola has played down suggestions Pirelli is introducing a new rear tyre purely because of the Baku blowouts.

Formula 1's official supplier announced in Austria that the "new rear construction", which is designed to "improve robustness", will be tested by teams in free practice next Friday.

The aim is to race the new tyre from Silverstone.

The obvious conclusion is that Pirelli is effectively admitting that the sub-standard 'robustness' of the existing rear tyre design contributed to the blowouts suffered by Max Verstappen and Lance Stroll at Baku.

But the Italian company's F1 chief Mario Isola actually said Pirelli has been thinking about doing this since last year.

"We had this idea last year when we were looking for solutions to develop a more robust rear tyre," he said at the Red Bull Ring.

"We used this idea to build a few prototypes, which we then successfully tried in our indoor test program.

"With the 2021 tyre, we had already strengthened the construction a step. This new version is another step in that direction," Isola added.

He said the teams and drivers should easily adapt to the new tyre because the weight and aerodynamic profile are the same.

"On paper, it shouldn't have any impact on the teams' balance of power," Isola insisted.