Oliver WhiteFollowing David Coulthard’s incident in Free Practice One earlier today, the Malaysian Grand Prix stewards have demanded a technical report from Red Bull Racing to be submitted to the FIA. The incident Coulthard suffered should have been relatively minor, but damage caused to the track rod by the Scot running over the kerbs appears to be more substantial than normal. Combined with the damaged caused to the front of David’s car at the Australian Grand Prix, the stewards are concerned there maybe something not quite right on the Red Bull.
The damage sustained on the Red Bull when Felipe Massa dived up the inside in Australia did look quite bad on the television cameras (pictured above), but from the angle we saw it Massa did appear to clout the Red Bull quite hard. However, the RB4 hasn’t had an easy birth as it only just passed the mandatory crash test prior to the Australian event. And now, with damage sustained from what appears to be a minor off at Sepang, the car could be in trouble.
The Stewards, having met with the team principal and technical representative of Red Bull Racing in relation to the incident involving Car 9 in Practice 1, have requested that the competitor provide to the FIA Technical Delegate a report verifying that the integrity of the suspension is such that the car should not be deemed ‘of dangerous constructions’ under Art 2.3 of the 2008 Formula One Technical Regulations. Stewards Statement.
Adrian Newey, the designer of the RB4, is notorious for not compromising on aerodynamic efficiency, even disregarding the height of a driver in some cases. However, the strength of the car should never be compromised, particularly as suspension failure can lead to a serious accident.
We have absolutely no concerns about the car’s safety for tomorrow. Christian Horner.
Interestingly, STR boss Gerhard Berger has just received the RB4 chassis from Red Bull and will start re-branding them into STR‘s for its debut in a few races time.
Image courtesy of Red Bull Racing.
Only lightly related, but i found Coulthard’s incident with Massa and the resultant behaviour of the Red Bull’s suspension in that incident perculiar. Henchforth, coupling the aforementioned collision with the unnatural Malaysian failure, witnessed live first-hand earlier today, i call the intergrity and design of the RB4’s untrustworthy suspension into serious question and hope the forthcoming steward’s investigation is meticulously planned and considered.
I think you’re getting your wish, Jamie. Why else would the stewards delay this long in giving a decision? There’s only so many cups of coffee you can drink before having to do some work!
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