Racing Point believe carbon debris may have caused Lance Stroll’s rear-left tyre to fail at the Tuscan Grand Prix.
Stroll crashed out of P4 at Mugello, losing control of his RP20 at Arrabbiata 2 and taking a heavy impact into the tyre barriers to bring out the red flags for the second time in the race.
The Canadian racer thankfully was completely fine after the accident, and he believed a puncture had caused him to so unexpectedly lose control.
Racing Point are investigating the cause of the incident and so far believe that carbon debris may well have caused his left-rear tyre to deflate.
“So initially Lance thought it was a puncture,” Racing Point boss Otmar Szafnauer told Sky Sports F1.
“And that is what he reported to us so we immediately looked at the tyre pressure and for sure the tyre pressure was at zero but that was after he hit the barrier, not before.
“We have got to find out what it was. We think it may have been a bit of carbon debris that could have gone into his left rear, caused the puncture and then the spin.”
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Stroll was set to record another strong result after making the podium at the previous round at Monza, so naturally he was disappointed to walk away with nothing.
“First of all, I’m OK after what was a big impact. We’re still investigating the cause of the crash. It all happened so quickly, but it felt like a puncture,” he told the Racing Point website.
“We need to go away and look at the data and fully confirm the reasons for it. There were some really strong points on the table and we were closing on Ricciardo for the final podium place before the accident, and it was all set up for an exciting finale.
“I’m pleased with how the upgraded package performed this weekend, and it gives us a good platform for the coming races.
“We were able to make a good start to the race and get a good launch in the restart to keep out of trouble until late on.
“It was an unfortunate result and sometimes that’s how the cookie crumbles, but I’ll take the positives!”
The DNF saw Stroll slip from P4 to P6 in the Drivers’ Championship following the Tuscan Grand Prix.
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