Jaime blames DNF on gearbox, not lack of fuel

Sunday 1st November 2009

Jaime Alguersuari insists it was a gearbox problem that put him out of the season-ending Abu Dhabi GP and not a lack of fuel after arookie error.

Coming in for his first stop of the evening on lap 20, Alguersuari drove into the wrong pit box, opting to stop his Toro Rosso in the Red Bull box instead of his team's.

Quickly sent on his way as the real Red Bull driver, Sebastian Vettel, was coming in for his stop, Alguersuari went back out to rejoin the race and seconds later came to a stop on the side of the track.

The initial belief is that he ran out of fuel. The 19-year-old Spaniard, though, insists it was a gearbox problem.

"We had a problem with the gearbox, the up shift was not there. So it was impossible to continue," he told the BBC.

"They told me to box so I came in straight away but no-one was ready in the Toro Rosso box so I went to the other one.

"Then when I looked up I realised I was in the wrong place."

Opps...

Your Comments

ezzy1992

"these comments are incredibly cruel, we have to consider that he was told to come into the pit stop however his team wasn't there are waiting for him, and shockingly the red bull team do look similar to toro rosso, wouldn't you do the same in this situation? and he DID leave the pit box, meaning he didn't ruin Vettel's race..also he doesn't have a lot of experience in F1, he had to race with ony practice sessions and straight line testing from the previous year and came in and kept his car on track without causing an incident which other drivers expected him to, i believe his has done well, apart from this minor flaw which isn't just down to him but lack of preparedness of his team"

zaroinx

"oooopsss!! they made a mistake too!! letting you drive an F1 car. And your made a perfect comment: I was in the wrong place, and you are BOY."

daytona81

"davratta, when it comes to racing i believe you either have it or you dont, jaime, romain, nakajima, kubica and more do not have it. kobayashi has it. i dont think more time would do much for them."

davratta

"This numb-nut almost cost Vettel the race. Mappy is right, Algusuari and Grosjean both need more time in the lower formulae (GP2 or F2) because they sure are not ready for F1 right now. Buemi did an adequate job as a rookie. Kobayashi is showing a lot of promise, but Tonio Liuzzi showed me nothing, since Monza. If Vijay can sign a better driver, like Heidfeld, Glock or even Trulli, he should snap them up and give Liuzzi the boot. Force India might do better if they welcome back their prodigal son, Giancarlo Fisichella. "

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