30/03/2010
NEWS STORY
Following claims that Sebastian Vettel's Australian Grand Prix came to an end as a result of brake failure, the manufacturer of the system on his car has issued a statement denying the reports.
The statement, issued on Tuesday afternoon, reads:
"With regard to the retirement of the Red Bull Racing's driver Sebastian Vettel during the Grand Prix of Australia, Brembo communicates that the cause of his exit in Turn 13 was not caused by the braking system supplied by Brembo, as some publications have reported.
Red Bull Racing has confirmed that Sebastian Vettel retired from the Australian Grand Prix after the torque drive between the front left axle and wheel was lost.
Post race investigations revealed the wheel nut was correctly tightened at the pitstop as well as other possible causes of the fault.
The team has communicated that it's studying a number of solutions at present, which can be implemented for the Malaysian Grand Prix."
While Red Bull only identified the reason for his retirement as "a wheel related issue (front left), Vettel himself appeared to be under no illusion when talking in the wake of Sunday's retirement. “I felt that something was wrong one lap earlier than I went off," he said. "I had some sparks coming up from the front left wheel; we didn’t know what it was and so wanted to pit. Then, a couple of corners before, I had huge vibrations building up and as soon as I touched the brakes, I had some sort of failure going in to Turn 13 and ended up in the gravel."