Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsHaas F1 Team

Gutierrez to have new chassis in Bahrain after Alonso crash

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Esteban Gutierrez will have a new chassis for the Bahrain Grand Prix following his crash with Fernando Alonso in Australia.

Alonso hit the rear of Gutierrez's car in the braking zone for Turn 3, with the McLaren being sent rolling through the gravel and coming to a rest upside down against the barrier. While Alonso's car was the focal point in the dramatic incident, Gutierrez also retired with major damage to the left rear corner of his car which has led to Haas replacing his chassis.

“Some of the parts, for example the chassis, were sent back to Europe to be checked and fixed because we can’t do it onsite in Bahrain," team principal Guenther Steiner said. "We have enough spare parts to build up another chassis, so we will use that. Then the chassis that is repaired will be sent to Bahrain via air to serve as our spare.

"The guys will have to work day and night to get to Bahrain, but it’s all doable. Our spare quantity is down, but we have enough to get going again, so we will just keep on working.”

And Steiner says it is testament to the team members that such a major job will be sorted in time for Bahrain despite it being only the second race for Haas.

“We chose good, quality people. Nobody gets down in adversity. Everybody gets up. They are working on the solution, not on the problem. They work together because they are professionals and they know they can get it done together as a team. It all comes down to the quality of people, and I think our quality is pretty high.”

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.