- 22 May 10, 04:09#200347
Safety Safety Safety,
"
Following an investigation instigated by AutoWeek, the Williams Formula One team said on Friday that Rubens Barrichello’s crash in the Monaco Grand Prix last weekend was caused when his car’s left rear wheel struck a loose drain cover.
A team statement said: “AT&T Williams confirmed today that the cause of Rubens Barrichello’s crash at the Monaco Grand Prix on Sunday, May 16, 2010, was a loose manhole cover at turn two. As Rubens’ car drove over the manhole cover, the cover was spun up and hit the rear left wheel, causing failure. The car was badly damaged in the ensuing crash which ended Rubens’ race. This incident has been reported to the FIA.”
FIA race director Charlie Whiting has asked the Monaco organizers about the incident. Usually, inspectors check the track carefully each morning, but it could be that the cover only came loose after being struck during the race.
Force India driver Vitantonio Liuzzi first suggested that something odd might have triggered Barrichello’s accident. The Italian, who was following Barrichello, told AW after the race that he had seen the Williams car flip up an object from the track multiple times over the course of several laps. Barrichello was running unusually close to the barrier when this happened, and on the final occasion, the Williams spun out of control.
“I was behind Rubens,” Liuzzi said. “It was pretty weird. I saw already two times before he was going really close the left guardrail and there was something lifting from the ground, then once I saw this thing lifting completely and I saw Rubens flying into the wall. I thought he touched the left wall, this is what it appeared to me.
“Something was lifting from the ground when a car was going that close to the left wall. He was always going really close to the left wall and there was this thing on the floor.”
AW reported Liuzzi’s words to Williams team bosses Frank Williams and Patrick Head at the team’s motor home. They were skeptical initially, because they only knew about the much-smaller loose drain cover that caused the third safety-car period, and which was further up the hill from where Barrichello crashed.
Williams subsequently put out a press release that said Barrichello had spun as the result of a suspension failure, which the team in effect took responsibility for, pending any new information.
However, on Monday before leaving Monaco, AW visited the site and found a drain cover exactly where Liuzzi said he had seen something strange. It was not welded down, as it should have been.
We sent our photos to Head, as well as to Williams technical director Sam Michael, together with Liuzzi’s testimony. We also forwarded some TV screenshots from Liuzzi’s car, which showed a foreign object on the track. Williams changed the direction of the investigation and asked Formula One Management for high definition on-board footage from both Liuzzi’s and Barrichello’s cars.
Meanwhile, we also called Whiting, who knew nothing of the second drain cover. After he received our photos, he went to view the drain cover for himself and was surprised to find that it was indeed loose. Whiting and Michael discussed the issue when they met during Thursday’s Technical Working Group meeting in London.
The mystery is, how did the heavy cover drop back into place after being hit each time without any track marshals noticing it? It is possible that a marshal replaced it during the safety-car period for Barrichello’s accident, but it seems unlikely that could have happened without race control learning of the issue.
Whiting has asked the ACM (the Monaco automobile club) whether any marshals have any more information. It remains to be seen whether the FIA takes the matter further
Read more: http://www.autoweek.com/article/2010052 ... z0od03U6Wh"
"
Following an investigation instigated by AutoWeek, the Williams Formula One team said on Friday that Rubens Barrichello’s crash in the Monaco Grand Prix last weekend was caused when his car’s left rear wheel struck a loose drain cover.
A team statement said: “AT&T Williams confirmed today that the cause of Rubens Barrichello’s crash at the Monaco Grand Prix on Sunday, May 16, 2010, was a loose manhole cover at turn two. As Rubens’ car drove over the manhole cover, the cover was spun up and hit the rear left wheel, causing failure. The car was badly damaged in the ensuing crash which ended Rubens’ race. This incident has been reported to the FIA.”
FIA race director Charlie Whiting has asked the Monaco organizers about the incident. Usually, inspectors check the track carefully each morning, but it could be that the cover only came loose after being struck during the race.
Force India driver Vitantonio Liuzzi first suggested that something odd might have triggered Barrichello’s accident. The Italian, who was following Barrichello, told AW after the race that he had seen the Williams car flip up an object from the track multiple times over the course of several laps. Barrichello was running unusually close to the barrier when this happened, and on the final occasion, the Williams spun out of control.
“I was behind Rubens,” Liuzzi said. “It was pretty weird. I saw already two times before he was going really close the left guardrail and there was something lifting from the ground, then once I saw this thing lifting completely and I saw Rubens flying into the wall. I thought he touched the left wall, this is what it appeared to me.
“Something was lifting from the ground when a car was going that close to the left wall. He was always going really close to the left wall and there was this thing on the floor.”
AW reported Liuzzi’s words to Williams team bosses Frank Williams and Patrick Head at the team’s motor home. They were skeptical initially, because they only knew about the much-smaller loose drain cover that caused the third safety-car period, and which was further up the hill from where Barrichello crashed.
Williams subsequently put out a press release that said Barrichello had spun as the result of a suspension failure, which the team in effect took responsibility for, pending any new information.
However, on Monday before leaving Monaco, AW visited the site and found a drain cover exactly where Liuzzi said he had seen something strange. It was not welded down, as it should have been.
We sent our photos to Head, as well as to Williams technical director Sam Michael, together with Liuzzi’s testimony. We also forwarded some TV screenshots from Liuzzi’s car, which showed a foreign object on the track. Williams changed the direction of the investigation and asked Formula One Management for high definition on-board footage from both Liuzzi’s and Barrichello’s cars.
Meanwhile, we also called Whiting, who knew nothing of the second drain cover. After he received our photos, he went to view the drain cover for himself and was surprised to find that it was indeed loose. Whiting and Michael discussed the issue when they met during Thursday’s Technical Working Group meeting in London.
The mystery is, how did the heavy cover drop back into place after being hit each time without any track marshals noticing it? It is possible that a marshal replaced it during the safety-car period for Barrichello’s accident, but it seems unlikely that could have happened without race control learning of the issue.
Whiting has asked the ACM (the Monaco automobile club) whether any marshals have any more information. It remains to be seen whether the FIA takes the matter further
Read more: http://www.autoweek.com/article/2010052 ... z0od03U6Wh"
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