Bridgestone: It was not a tyre failureMonday 28th April 2008Bridgestone have denied any wrong doing in Heikki Kovalainen's 140mph shunt in Barcelona, saying it was not caused by a tyre failure.
The McLaren driver crashed heavily into a tyre wall at Turn Nine on Lap 22 after his left front tyre suddenly disintegrated at high speed.
Bridgestone, though, reckon that it was not a problem with the tyre that caused it to deflate.
"We do not believe that there was a tyre failure," said Hirohide Hamashima, Bridgestone's motorsport director.
"As is normal, we are now conducting a thorough investigation with the team and we are happy Kovalainen appears to have not sustained any visible injuries."
Bridgestone's claims have been backed up by McLaren team boss Ron Dennis, who claims it was a wheel-rim failure that caused Kovalainen's shunt.
"As far as we can tell the wheel-rim failed, which is a very unusual occurrence," said Dennis. "It only had 14km on it, so it was a brand new wheel effectively.
"We have to analyse the components and find out specifically what happened, but at the moment we are 99.9% certain a wheel failed.
"The tyre deflation could have been due to a piece of the rim flying off or a clipping from some of the carbon fibre. That's as accurate as we can be at this stage."
Related Links ©2006 - 365 Media Group Any reproduction, publication or redistribution of this material without the written agreement of 365 Media Group is strictly forbidden. |
» Print...