Engine shutdown caused Kvyat crash in Interlagos practice

Honda has confirmed that a "complete shutdown" of Daniil Kvyat's engine in his Toro Rosso car caused his crash in the closing stages of second practice for the Brazilian Grand Prix on Friday at Interlagos.

After seeing Toro Rosso teammate Pierre Gasly park up at the side of the track due to an engine failure earlier in the session, Kvyat's FP2 also came to a premature end when he crashed at Juncao with five minutes left on the clock.

Kvyat's car appeared to lose all power mid-corner, causing it to snap and spear towards the wall before coming to rest, albeit with a small fire developing at the rear.

"We had a productive session until the moment when the car switched itself off. We now need to find out what the problem was, but until then I think it was a solid session," Kvyat said.

"We understood the track well and the requirements needed for tomorrow to go faster, so we will work hard overnight and try to improve tomorrow."

Honda F1 chief Toyoharu Tanabe confirmed Gasly's engine failure and that the shutdown had caused Kvyat to crash, but clarified there would be no penalty for either driver as both power units were reserved for use in practice only.

"Towards the end of the session, the ICE on Gasly’s car failed and then Kvyat crashed due to a complete shutdown and with the team, we are now investigating the cause of both these problems," Tanabe said.

"However, they have no effect on the rest of the weekend from a PU point of view, as both of them were running 'Friday only' PUs, due to be changed tonight."