Toro Rosso blame rim problems after abandoning practice

2016 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

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A wheel rim problem was to blame for the punctures which led Toro Rosso to abandon their running in today’s practice sessions according to team principal Franz Tost.

Daniil Kvyat suffered a left-rear tyre failure during first practice and a repeat failure during the second session. The latter occured at turn 16, as fast right-hander, causing him to spin off at speed.

Abu Dhabi Grand Prix practice in pictures
Tost admitted the team haven’t got to the bottom of the problem yet but indicated they knew where it had originated.

“After facing two failures on the rear rim of Daniil’s car today it was decided to avoid sending Carlos [Sainz Jnr] out on track again because we still haven’t understood 100% where the problem is coming from.”

“We will now work hard tonight, together with the engineers back in Faenza, and hopefully we will sort it out for tomorrow.”

The punctures are the latest in a series of similar failures for the team. Sainz suffered two punctures during final practice at the Circuit of the Americas and Kvyat had a right-rear puncture at Interlagos during the second practice session.

Kvyat reacted angrily to his latest tyre failure today, telling his team on the radio “these punctures are starting to [censored by FOM] me off”. He covered just eight laps of running on Friday. Sainz, who was able to cover more ground in the first session, racked up 25. However the pair ended the day with only Force India and Manor’s test drivers beneath them on the times sheets.

2016 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

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    Keith Collantine
    Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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    3 comments on “Toro Rosso blame rim problems after abandoning practice”

    1. Should FOM censor radio messages? I jest, of course!

      When I first read Kvyat’s statement “these punctures are starting to [censored by FOM] me off”, I replaced “[censored by FOM]” with Vettel’s favourite word*, only to realize it didn’t make sense. Rubber doesn’t do the deed, it’s a mere accessory to it. (Although punctures can be as catastrophic there too!)

      Only after that did I realize what was probably the censored word – Kvyat was annoyed, not taken advantage of.

      * Yes, the sentence isn’t grammatically perfect in such a case, but I gave some leeway for Kvyat probably not having English as his primary language. Just as how Grosjean says “the brakes ‘breaked'”.

    2. In FP1, he coincidently parked his car under the grandstand where I sit.

    3. Toro Rosso are 12 points behind McLaren, and safely ahead of Haas – therefore quite unlikely to change positions in the constructors’ standings. Is it possible they were trying some development rim designs for 2017? Obviously it wouldn’t be identical to 2017 rims, but maybe in terms of design/channels to pipe air, etc.

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