Whiting: Loose drain ‘a bit fatigued’ in Grosjean crash

FIA race director Charlie Whiting says the loose kerb and drain cover needs to be re-welded after suffering too much wear which triggered it to vbe dislodged that caused Romain Grosjean’s scary crash and the premature red flag to FP2.

The second free practice session of the Malaysian Grand Prix was ended 15 minutes early after a loose drain cover was run over by Grosjean which shredded his right-rear Pirelli tyre that sent him into a nasty collision into the wall at turn 13.

Replays showed the drain cover became dislodged after being run over by Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas and while Kimi Raikkonen narrowly missed hitting it in the Ferrari an unsighted Grosjean collected the debris with his Haas.

While Grosjean was able to walk away unhurt, despite heavy damage to his Haas car, the session was red flagged in order to repair the damaged drain cover and kerb as well as check the rest of the circuit to avoid a similar issue.

Whiting says wear and stress fatigue was to blame for the drain cover coming loose but is confident the issue will be resolved in time for Saturday’s FP3 and qualifying.

“A drain grate has come up, it’s an inspection hatch, they’re normally bolted and welded but that one has broken away,” Whiting said. “For the rest of the day [Friday] we’ll concentrate on that, getting those four kerbs welded back down again.

“They’ve probably been welded for a long time I expect and have got a bit fatigued. So we will re-weld those and then tonight the guys will have to check everything.

“We have to get it fixed for tomorrow. I think with the loads that are being imparted on those drains by other cars are nothing like what happens with Formula 1 so I suspect all will be fine [for support series].”