Haas has become the second team this weekend to receive a fine for unsafely releasing one of its cars from the pit box.
The team sent Kevin Magnussen from the pit box five minutes before the end of today’s second practice session, then immediately told him on the radio to bring the car to a stop.
Nonetheless the stewards fined the team €5,000 for the error after ruling it had sent the car without having fully tightened one of its wheels.“The team admitted that there had been a problem, with the accidental triggering of the blue (‘OK’) light on the wheel gun, falsely signaling that the wheel had been correctly fitted,” noted the stewards in a statement.”
“The stewards determined that the car was released in an unsafe condition in breach of article 28.13(b) as the wheel was not properly attached to the car when released.”
Haas reacted quickly to ensure Magnussen did not drive onto the track with a loose wheel, the stewards acknowledged.
“The team reacted instantly, instructing the driver to stop the car and the driver stopped the car in a safe manner immediately,” they noted.
“Consistent with previous decisions of a similar nature, the stewards decided that the grid place penalty mentioned in the above article would not be applied as the driver took all appropriate actions at the first available opportunity. Accordingly, the stewards fined the team €5,000.”
McLaren has already been fined €10,000 for an unsafe release during first practice this weekend. Haas was previously fined after both its cars were sent out of the pits with loose wheels during the Australian Grand Prix.
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Chaitanya
29th June 2018, 18:19
Didnt Haas revise their procedure after debacle earlier this year with lose wheel nuts?
Jere (@jerejj)
29th June 2018, 18:47
What’s so different about this season compared to the previous ones? For example, by this point last season, there had been zero incidents of this type, and now this is already the 6th race weekend out of 9 so far in which a similar kind of incident concerning unsafe release/a tyre getting lose has occurred.
Paul
29th June 2018, 23:36
They need to set or increase the minimum length of thread on the wheel nuts.