Vergne still feeling effects of suspension break

Jean-Eric Vergne says broken suspension was the cause of the dramatic accident at Monza that left him still feeling sore nearly a week afterwards.

Vergne's car got airbourne over the kerbs at turn one after snapping sideways under braking, with the Frenchman suffering pain in his back when the car then landed heavily.

Writing in his latest blog on the Toro Rosso website, Vergne revealed that he had felt all wasn't well with the car prior to the accident happening but was still surprised when the suspension let go as he hit the brakes for the Rettifilo chicane.

"I felt something wasn't quite right from the start," he said. "I was struggling with it quite early on and it just felt strange. In those circumstances, you try to let the team know what's happening and then you just get on with it. You're racing and you need to make the best of the situation.

"When I had the suspension problem it was a big shock. I entered the braking phase for the corner and totally lost it. The car just snapped out from underneath me. I could feel the rear wheel was the wrong way under braking and from that point on I was pretty much a passenger.

"The kerbs are quite high at Monza, so when the car hit the kerb I was thrown in the air. I was a little worried that the car might flip, so the fact that it didn't is something to be grateful for. It could have been a lot worse than it was.

"Having said that, it was still quite a big impact and it took me a minute to get myself together once the car had stopped. I felt a bit of pain, so I stayed where I was for a few moments, just to get everything straight in my head, but then I felt okay and climbed out. I went with the medical car and that was the end of my Italian Grand Prix.

"After the race, we established it had been a failure with the rear suspension. In the end you just have to put it down as one of those things that happen when you go racing. I do feel pretty stiff across my back and neck but I think that will go away over the next day or so and I'll get on with what is going to be a pretty busy schedule until Singapore."
It's a shame that it happened. It's easy to say this after the fact, but I do think we could have had a pretty good race in Monza.

Despite the nature of his retirement however, Vergne said there were plenty of positives for him to take into the Singapore Grand Prix next weekend as he competes in F1 under lights for the first time.

"It's unfortunate that we left Monza without scoring as it would have been great to finish well in front of the team's home crowd, but these things happen," he said. "Because of the good feeling I had with the car in Spa and up until the race in Monza, I don't think there are any alarms going off at the moment. The upgrades we've done are working out, the pace is improving, and the team is really working well at the moment. So there's actually a lot to be pleased about.
I've had a pretty busy time since Monza, so I'll be trying to grab as much rest as I can in between the work to shake off any residual effects of the accident.

"I'm flying to Singapore next Tuesday. I guess you could say it's a bit of a trip into the unknown for me. The night-race schedule will probably take a bit of getting used to in terms of sleeping at the right times and the track itself will be new to me, so that too will be a challenge.
I'm looking forward to it though. We have plenty of racing left ahead of us this season, I'm enjoying my time in the car and as a team we are going in the right direction. At the moment that's all I can ask for."