Formula 1
Teams suspect Barcelona stones caused race problems
The shattered remains of Lewis Hamilton's front left corner is being rushed back to Woking for analysis. Almost within sight of the chequered flag in Barcelona, the 2008 world champion's McLaren speared into a barrier after a sudden tyre ...
GMM
Published: May 11, 2010, 4:41 PM
Copy link
Share on Viber
The shattered remains of Lewis Hamilton's front left corner is being rushed back to Woking for analysis.
Almost within sight of the chequered flag in Barcelona, the 2008 world champion's McLaren speared into a barrier after a sudden tyre failure, costing him second place both in the race and in the world championship standings.
Team boss Martin Whitmarsh immediately speculated that "debris" probably caused the problem, while Bridgestone said its initial impression was that "this was not caused by a tyre issue".
"We are working closely with McLaren to understand what happened," added the Japanese supplier's Hirohide Hamashima.
As the sun rises again in Europe on Monday morning, the leading theory now is that a stone became stuck in the wheel rim.
After qualifying, Rubens Barrichello took photos with his mobile phone camera of his FW32 and his helmet, so amazed was he about the damage caused by flying stones.
And he told Germany's Auto Motor und Sport that he had to nurse his vibrating Williams to the chequered flag after feeling a "strong shock" on the left front.
"We had to slow him down to ensure we didn't have a problem with the tyres," confirmed technical director Sam Michael. "We'll be looking into that for the next race."
Barrichello suspects a stone got stuck in the wheel rim, and a similar cause was also not being ruled out to explain Sebastian Vettel's brake problem.
After the Red Bull was inspected, Christian Horner revealed that the brake disc "was a bit damaged".
"We will only know for sure in the factory," added the Briton.
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Spanish GP: Virgin race report
Next article Schu's back, Barca not boring, Massa under pressure - press
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
GMM
The season is still very long - Rosberg
Formula 1
Formula 1
The season is still very long - Rosberg
Jules Bianchi's father speaks of family's continued hopes
Formula 1
Formula 1
Jules Bianchi's father speaks of family's continued hopes
Sauber under no illusions about constructors' position
Formula 1
Formula 1
Chinese GP
Sauber under no illusions about constructors' position
More from
Lewis Hamilton
‘I’ll try to win, somehow’ – Can Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen fight back for F1 Brazilian GP victory?
Formula 1
Formula 1
Sao Paulo GP
‘I’ll try to win, somehow’ – Can Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen fight back for F1 Brazilian GP victory?
F1 Brazilian GP: Sunday schedule, weather forecast and how to watch
Formula 1
Formula 1
Sao Paulo GP
F1 Brazilian GP: Sunday schedule, weather forecast and how to watch
More from
McLaren
What's behind Oscar Piastri's split with Mark Webber – and what it means for his F1 career
Formula 1
Formula 1
Sao Paulo GP
5 h
What's behind Oscar Piastri's split with Mark Webber – and what it means for his F1 career
Malthe Jakobsen completes McLaren's WEC Hypercar driver line-up
WEC
WEC 6 h
Malthe Jakobsen completes McLaren's WEC Hypercar driver line-up
Latest news
Alex Bowman hits out at critics in snarky post, shooting down early exit rumors
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Homestead-Miami
3 h
Alex Bowman hits out at critics in snarky post, shooting down early exit rumors
Ryan Blaney gets sweet redemption after 'nightmares' following 2024 Homestead loss
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Homestead-Miami
3 h
Ryan Blaney gets sweet redemption after 'nightmares' following 2024 Homestead loss
IndyCar 2026 season review: Dale Coyne Racing
IndyCar
Indy IndyCar 4 h
IndyCar 2026 season review: Dale Coyne Racing
Noah Gragson apologizes to Daniel Suarez for spinning him at Homestead
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Homestead-Miami
4 h
Noah Gragson apologizes to Daniel Suarez for spinning him at Homestead
Feature
Discover prime content
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe