Wheels Fall Off Haas Challenge... Again

[Paul Jeffrey]

Haas F1 had another Australian disaster again this year, Romain Grosjean retiring his new black and gold car with a potential loose front wheel.. for the second year in a row.

Martin Brundle had a little joke with Gunther Steiner prior to the start of the Australian Grand Prix, asking the Haas F1 boss if his team have been practicing attaching all the wheels to their F1 car - a nod towards the disastrous 2018 double retirement for the American outfit. Sadly for the impressive US team, it looks like that practice hasn't quite paid off.

With both cars running well inside the points paying positions, Grosjean would be forced to lose time during the first pitstop sequence with an apparent problem on the front left side of the car - a problem that appeared to manifest itself in the worst possible way for the Frenchmen on the 31st lap, the wheel appearing to start to detach itself and force Grosjean into an early finish to his Grand Prix weekend.

Is it history repeating itself, or another problem altogether? Either way, a disappointing start to the season for Grosjeans side of the Haas F1 garage.

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[bporion]

just saw the post race interview he is not happy ! but he never pointed the finger at the team , good for him !

 

[farjam]

Was is suspension or it was just like last year? At least the last year's disastrous pit stop was quicker if i remember correctly... this time not only they forgot to tighten the tire (if it was the tire) correctly but also their pit stop time was worse lol
Romain's reaction on twitter :

 

[BrainsBush]

They are working on Netflix' serie Drive to Survive season 2

 

[BrunoBæ]

Taken from the picture above it looks like last years pit blunder.
And watching the race the guy responsible for tightning the wheel dont look too satisfied when the car is allowed to continue.
Looks like nobody in that team dare to take responsibility for fixing this mess.

 

[Raikku]

Maybe it's just american thing, they can't tighten the nuts properly in US?

No metric tools maybe?

 

[Ole Andreasen]

Haas team principal Guenther Steiner confirmed that Romain Grosjean's retirement from the Australian Grand Prix was a result of yet more pit-stop woe in Melbourne. Grosjean was set for a likely points finish until a botched service would prove fatal to his race.

Grosjean was held in his pit box for several seconds with a delay in getting his front-left tyre fitted, retiring 15 laps later with the same wheel appearing to have come loose.
While not as calamitous as last year's double DNF for Haas with cross-threaded wheel nuts, Steiner confirmed that the Frenchman's troubled stop had ultimately put paid to his chances.
"On the pitstop you could see that there was an issue, He lost seven seconds and the race was gone there - even if he got to the end there wouldn't have been points," said Steiner.
"They got the wheel back on, so we didn't lose the wheel like last year. But after 15 laps it mechanically broke because we forced it on.
"The wheelnut broke. It was on, but when you take it off and put it on it gets damaged and then the thread breaks."
Grosjean reacted to a third DNF from a points position in three years in Melbourne by saying: "Maybe Australia just doesn't like me."
Steiner said of the Frenchman's response: "He was disappointed. I spoke with him about it, which is the right thing to do, and apologised because this should not happen.
"But he's in good spirits because the car is good. It's not his last chance to make points.
"That's what I said to the guys: let's not dwell too much on what and if and what could have happened and if this and that. Let's focus on how we fix this.
"Do we change people around? We'll come up with a solution. It happened. It's gone."

https://www.gpfans.com/en/articles/37092/haas-confirm-reason-for-grosjean-dnf/

 

[Kurupt CDN]

just saw the post race interview he is not happy ! but he never pointed the finger at the team , good for him !

Not on TV, but I am sure when season 2 of Drive to survive comes out it will show him pointing fingers and throwing the team under the bus like he did last yr lol

 

[Wedge]

Haas has a lot of potential but they need to tackle such issues ASAP. It can't happen anymore.

 

[farjam]

Haas team principal Guenther Steiner confirmed that Romain Grosjean's retirement from the Australian Grand Prix was a result of yet more pit-stop woe in Melbourne. Grosjean was set for a likely points finish until a botched service would prove fatal to his race.

Damn, at first i was hoping it wasn't the case this time...
I mean they are the one who were proud to their teamwork in the industry whether it's about the technology side or their HR.
I don't like Grosjean tbh and i think he always make a lot of mistakes in a high rate! but every time he is doing a good job , something happens! maybe Haas just need someone that can have more days without mistake to cover their mechanic mistakes...

 

[BrunoBæ]

This happened eventhough the team as a precaution delayed the pitstops by about 2 sec.
The other driver Magnussen had some remark about this because this spoiled any possibility for him to at least hope to race one of the cars in front of him.

EDIT: Sorry I should have used the the word "extend" instead: as a precaution extended the pitstops