Renault admits gearbox issues caused double retirement
Renault endured a very difficult weekend at Silverstone, marking a double DNF. Before that however, neither driver was able to make a great impression either, with both men struggling to find the pace to progress through the field.
It appears though that Ferrari and Mercedes are currently not the only teams having to deal with gearbox issues these days. Renault's Jolyon Palmer and Kevin Magnussen stopped on lap 38 and 50 respectively both with suspected gearbox problems.
Things were even more dreadful for Jolyon Palmer, as before that stoppage, he had to complete a 10 second stop-and-go penalty after the team released him after his pitstop with only three of four wheels fitted. The resulting delay and penalty dropped him to the very back of the field, before the team decided to take him out of the race as "there was a strange feeling with the gearbox". The retirement was, as the team said, as a precaution, given that Jolyon at the time was more than 2 laps down on the race leader anyway.
Kevin Magnussen's race ended in similar fashion.
“We tried our best but unfortunately we were just not quick enough today", the Dane said.
"We suspected something might be wrong with the gearbox towards the end of the race so retired the car as a precaution. It’s just not been our day, but we’ll look through everything and come back stronger in Hungary.”
Team Principal Fred Vasseur admitted that the pace was not strong enough, but that testing should help the team recover quickly from a difficult weekend.
