Both Williams cars crash out of Monaco GP
The AT&T Williams team return home from the Principality of Monaco empty handed as both FW32s suffered mechanical issues during this afternoon's Monaco Grand Prix on the narrow street circuit along the mediterranean.
Relegated to the back of the grid after a clutch paddle failure at the start of the formation lap, Nico Hulkenberg’s race ended in the tunnel on lap one when his car suffered a component failure on the front wing. Rubens Barrichello had a strong start to the race, gaining three places as the lights went green to run in sixth, but retired on lap 30 following a failure on the rear of his car. The team will be investigating the cause of both retirements ahead of Istanbul.
Rubens Barrichello: "What happened today was a real surprise. I had such a good start but the car started to feel really strange after the pitstop. The steering wheel, in particular, didn’t feel normal. The problem continued to get worse and then I crashed. We now have to investigate the car to find out what the problem was."
Nico Hulkenberg: "I didn’t have a good start, obviously. There was a problem with the clutch before the start of the formation lap which meant I had to start from the back. I’m then not entirely sure what happened in the tunnel. The car felt odd one minute and the next I was in the wall. I am really disappointed not to have completed the race and get the mileage under my belt, but that’s life."
Sam Michael, Technical Director: "That was not a good day for the team after a promising start for Rubens. Nico had a problem with the clutch paddle on the steering wheel during the formation lap. He then had a failure with the front wing mounting on the first lap of the race. Rubens had a fantastic start and was running in sixth when he started to experience poor handling after his stop. 11 laps after his pitstop, he had a failure at the rear end of his car. We need to get all the parts back to the factory in order to identify correctly what components on both cars caused the failures. We have quite a bit of car damage to repair, but we're making progress with performance and look to further that in Istanbul."
