Suspension to blame for Coulthard test accident.
McLaren technical director Adrian Newey yesterday clarified that a wing failure was not to blame for David Coulthard's big off at Valencia.
Early reports suggested that the rear wing on the Scot's MP4-15 had broken, pitching him into a series of spins and then the barrier in much the same fashion as Johnny Herbert suffered pre-season last year. Like his fellow British racer, Coulthard was able to climb unhurt from the remains of his car, leaving Newey at pains to give a correct diagnosis of the cause at yesterday's FIA press conference.
McLaren technical director Adrian Newey yesterday clarified that a wing failure was not to blame for David Coulthard's big off at Valencia.
Early reports suggested that the rear wing on the Scot's MP4-15 had broken, pitching him into a series of spins and then the barrier in much the same fashion as Johnny Herbert suffered pre-season last year. Like his fellow British racer, Coulthard was able to climb unhurt from the remains of his car, leaving Newey at pains to give a correct diagnosis of the cause at yesterday's FIA press conference.
''The wing was not the cause of the problem,'' he explained, ''Instead, we had a rear suspension failure. It was a fatigue problem in a steel wishbone. We have taken action in the meantime, hoping to avoid a repetition. It has not involved any major redesign, but we have made a relatively small change to hopefully avoid it happening again.
''Obviously, that is something that all teams strive to avoid but, unfortunately, sometimes we are not totally successful. The nature of F1 - and I think most teams would say the same - makes it difficult to have a 100 per cent success record in terms of avoiding suspension failures at some stage or another in the season.''
Coulthard's title rival Michael Schumacher lost the Monaco Grand Prix following a less catastrophic failure, caused, according to the team, by hot exhaust gases weakening the suspension.
