31/10/2023
NEWS STORY
The suspension failure on Kevin Magnussen's car which turned Sunday's race upside down is understood to be heat related.
With the field having 'settled down' following what was widely thought to be the sole stop of the day, Sunday's Mexican Grand Prix was turned on its head when the Dane went off into the barrier just before half-distance.
The Haas driver was a mere passenger as his rear suspension broke sending him into the barriers at Turn 9.
Though unhurt and able to climb from his car, the Haas was badly damaged, with flames leaping from the rear. With damage to the TecPro barriers also it was decided to stop the race, a move which hindered some and helped others.
Speaking at race end, team boss Guenther Steiner explained the cause of the failure.
"We had a suspension failure, so we need to dig into what happened, but it seems to be heat related," he explained. "It was heat from the brakes.
"Kevin was defending, and it tipped over," he added. "It was just because of the high temperatures here. We just need to manage it better. Nico's car was OK."
I haven't seen the team yet," said Magnussen after being released from the circuit's medical centre, "maybe they have some more information.
"The rear-left specifically lost a lot of grip a couple of laps before that and suddenly lost a lot of grip, and then it gave up."
"A rear-left suspension failure sent me into the barrier," he subsequently posted on social media. "Got a knock on my hands, but I'm fine. We need to investigate what exactly happened."
"It was a tough day again, but it's not all negative," said Steiner. "Nico was in a good position to get points, but then with the red flag, which we caused ourselves, we couldn't keep the tyres in the last stint.
"Our car can't keep life in the tyres as other cars," he sighed. "We could fight for almost the whole distance, but almost isn't good enough.
"Otherwise, it seems like the whole team performed well and Nico drove fantastically to try and get something."
Compounding the team's misery is the fact that seventh for Daniel Ricciardo saw AlphaTauri leapfrog the American outfit to take 8th in the standings.