Montoya: Drain broke whole side of car off!

Juan Pablo Montoya was extremely unlucky hit a dislodged drain during the Chinese Grand Prix, but lucky that the incident had not have been a lot worse.

The drain in question was some 18ins by 9ins in size and, according to one FIA source, weighed as much as 20kgs, and thus could have done a lot more damage to car and driver.

Each piece of grid is held down by plastic clips, and it was the failure of this retention system that caused it to flip up as the 20-car F1 field raced over it. Immediately after the race, it was decided to ensure that the grids are welded down in the future. Interestingly, there was a major incident at the recent Australian V8 Supercar race at Shanghai involving a similar drain, although that did not appear to lead to any changes.

"As soon as I hit it, it spun the front wheel and punctured the front tyre and broke the whole side of the car off," Montoya told Crash.net, "I'd been getting on the kerb every lap through there, and I wasn't even wide. It's track, drainage and then kerb, and I hit the drainage with the front tyre. I wasn't even on the kerb. It just went and I felt a hit. On the next lap, I saw the bits lying there. It shouldn't have happened, but it happened. That's motor racing."

Montoya pitted straight after the incident for a new left front tyre, although the rear was also damaged. There was severe damage too to the sidepod and radiator intakes, but he ultimately retired from the race with an engine failure that was not related to the incident.