Esteban Gutiérrez’s race came to a premature end when his Formula One car turned into a tricycle on lap 42. This has resulted in a €5000 for the team for an unsafe release, although the team don’t know what causing the tyre to become detached.
Gutiérrez parked up his car on lap 42 just before he was lapped by Kimi Räikkönen. The front-left tyre of his car had become detached after his pit stop. The team are unsure what caused the issue, but they will investigate to see if it was a suspected mechanical failure which prevented the tyre from being tightened fully.
Esteban Gutiérrez during qualifying for the 2016 Malaysian Grand Prix.
The team principal of the Haas F1 Team, Guenther Steiner, discusses the issue:
“We lost a wheel on Esteban’s car, but we’re not sure yet why. The pit stop seemed to be ok and he got going. We need to see if a mechanical part failed or if it wasn’t tight, but we don’t know yet. Obviously, we’re moving on to Japan. We’ll try to put ourselves in a better position again there.”
The stewards decided not to issue a penalty to Gutiérrez, since they believe that the driver had not known about the issue when he left the pits. In this case, the stewards opted to issue a fine to the team of €5000. The team will also need to prove the Technical Delegate with a report on the failure and corrective actions.
The FIA will also be investigating the issue, since the tyre should not have come completely detached from the car. There are a number of safety devices in place to ensure that the tyre does not become loose on the track and potentially hurt drivers. The FIA says that there was an additional mechanical failure that allowed the tyre rim to bypass the retention devices, posing a serious safety risk. However, the FIA has spoken with the Technical Delegate and it is believed that the device operated with the required limits.
On the other side of the Haas garage, Romain Grosjean’s race ended just after the first virtual safety car period, just eight laps into the race. The Frenchman spun his car into the gravel after a sudden brake failure on the car.
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Weekend Summary: 2016 Malaysian Grand Prix
