Force India says that it will investigate what happened to Sergio Perez' left front wheel during second practice at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.
Perez was forced to stop on track when the wheel became detached with a little under 15 minutes remaining in the session. Marshalls pulled the VJM11 behind the safety wall, where it remained until the chequered flag.
"Unusually, the wheel clamped to the car and it was not immediately apparent that the wheel was not fully fitted," read the FIA report into the incident. "The stewards had the technical delegate inspect the car, and his conclusion agreed with the team’s that although the wheel clamped, the wheel nut was cross-threaded.
"Nevertheless, it is the responsibility of the team to take all measures to ensure that the wheel is fully fitted and accordingly, the stewards fine the team 5000 euros [for unsafe release.]"
However Perez himself escaped any penalty, as it was deemed that he had no way of knowing about the issue before leaving the pit lane.
"The driver stopped the car in a safe manner as soon as the above became apparent to him," the race stewards noted. "While there was some confusion on the radio, the team gave appropriate instructions as soon as they realised the issue, which was not apparent until just before turn nine."
"There was a small problem with Sergio’s left front wheel at the end of the session, the cause of which we are investigating," reported the team's chief operating officer Otmar Szafnauer.
"But it only cost us a minimal amount of track time," he added.
“It’s been a productive start to our weekend, despite some tricky conditions," he added. "The wind was reasonably high and it caught a few drivers out.
"We are in pretty good shape ahead of the weekend with plenty of data to analyse tonight," Szafnauer confirmed. "Our work today was mostly aimed at evaluating new aero parts – floor, barge boards and front wing – as well as gathering data about the tyre compounds."
Perez himself felt that the day had been time well spent, as he seeks to repeat his podium success last time out in Baku.
“I think we’ve made a lot of progress throughout the day," Perez said. "We have some good information and we have learned about the new parts on the car.
"We have made a step forward," he insisted. "The balance is still not ideal so there is the potential to find more performance tomorrow. The track was very green this morning, but it improved this afternoon even though it was very windy."
Perez was tenth fastest at the end of FP2, just ahead of his team mate Esteban Ocon.
“It was a solid day and a big effort by the team to try so many different things on the car in the first session," Ocon said. "Track conditions were not easy for anybody because it was very windy and difficult to put together a clean lap and stay on the track.
"We managed to complete most of the big jobs and now we need to do more homework to understand everything," he added. "I think there is still a lot more to come because we are not exactly where we want to be with the car."
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