Toro Rosso came close to disaster

Toro Rosso wanted to test its new hub carriers, an element connecting the wheel to the suspension, on the track. The test was unsuccessful. In just five rounds, Sébastien Buemi was the victim of a breakage of the new part, now placed in the box of inconclusive experiments. Above all, the Swiss could have been the victim of a more serious accident if his car had left the track in a less favorable direction. Fortunately, the friendly Buemi is unscathed and his STR5 will find the old, more reliable hub carriers.

The Swiss driver had already been delayed an hour in his pit due to problems with the braking system. When he came out, Buemi naturally wanted to string together as many laps as possible. While he was improving his lap times, he suffered an extremely rare problem. The hub carrier of the right front wheel broke, causing the car to become unbalanced and the same element, weakened, to break on the left side. The cables supposed to hold the wheels being attached to the hub carriers, the two front wheels of the STR5 flew off and Buemi found himself in a very delicate situation. Fortunately, his car went straight into a clearance zone and did not hit the safety rail too violently (see video).

Jaime Alguersuari, who had made good times and had not experienced this problem, was asked not to return to the track until the explanation for the damage was found. For the rest of the weekend, both men will benefit from their old, more reliable hub carriers.