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McLaren skirts volcano with "miraculous" drive
Source: Agencies |
April 17, 2010, Saturday
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Print Edition
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A LAST-MINUTE dash across Europe enabled McLaren to avoid the impact of an Icelandic volcano and transport car parts needed for this weekend's Chinese Grand Prix.
Members of the Formula One team were scheduled to bring the parts from England on Thursday but their flight was cancelled because of the massive plume of ash from Iceland that has disrupted air traffic across Europe.
"It is quite a miraculous story. Someone jumped into a car and drove five hours to Paris," said team head Martin Whitmarsh. The Paris flight took off just 10 minutes before the airport was shut.
"The parts were delivered here. We have got a few people who were going to be latecomers who won't be here now, but we've got everything we need to perform this weekend," Whitmarsh added.
The rush delivery included a mixture of aerodynamic parts and component spares, some of which might prove essential for the race.
"You never know. The fact is, you bring the parts, you bring the spares. Some parts you bring to a race meeting you hope you don't need. But you never know what's going to happen," he said.
Meanwhile, McLaren driver Lewis Hamilton claimed his car was back to its 2008 championship-winning best after leading yesterday's practice. Hamilton set the best time of the day, ahead of Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg. Hamilton's teammate Jenson Button and Mercedes' Michael Schumacher were third and fourth fastest.
"It's reminiscent of 2008 kind of balance, and hopefully that will enable us to be competitive tomorrow in qualifying," Hamilton said.
The 25-year-old enjoyed a commanding pole to flag victory in Shanghai on his way to securing the world title two years ago.
Hamilton is determined to get a top five spot in today's qualifying after making up a total of 19 grid places in the last two races.
Back-to-back
The Red Bull cars of Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber were fifth and sixth yesterday. The team is aiming for back-to-back 1-2 finishes, both this season and in China.
Championship leader Ferrari had Fernando Alonso in 10th and Felipe Massa 11th, with the mediocre times possibly indicating that the Italian team was testing its high fuel settings ahead of Sunday's race.
Of more concern was the failure of Alonso's engine in the first practice, with the Spaniard parking the car trackside in a billow of smoke and with flames from the exhaust.
The engine was the one used in practice and qualifying at the season opener in Bahrain. The team elected to use it again this weekend following a similar engine blowout at the previous race in Malaysia.
That reversion to a used engine indicated the team was already concerned about getting through the 19-race season on just eight engines, as the rules stipulate.
Toro Rosso driver Sebastien Buemi had a more alarming mechanical issue in the first practice when his two front wheels flew off simultaneously upon braking.
The Swiss driver was unhurt but agitated, having an animated discussion with race engineers about a malfunction that could have had far more serious consequences.
"I braked, the wheels came off and that was it," Buemi said. "Physically I was fine, but I have to say, I am extremely disappointed that, once again, through no fault of my own, I have been unable to run for almost all of the three hours available."
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