Haas team principal Guenther Steiner has revealed that a heat issue linked to the left rear brakes on Kevin Magnussen’s car led a suspension failure and to the Dane’s subsequent crash.
Magnussen was eight laps into his second stint, running on the hard tyre, when his car was suddenly pitched into the barrier at Turn 8.
Magnussen had entered the fast right-hander under control, but under load a rear left track rod failure guided the car violently left and almost head on into the Safer barrier.
The Dane walked away unscathed from the heavy crash although he was shaken. But a visit to the medical center at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez resulted ina clean bill of health.
Brake temperatures are always closely monitored in Mexico City due to the city’s altitude and thin air that put a heavier demand on brakes which require extra cooling.
Magnussen’s battle with Williams’ Logan Sargeant expanded temperatures, to the point where his engineers urged him to get his temps under control.
But on lap 32, the damage had already been done and the Haas driver was a mere passenger as his left rear suspension failed.
"It was a heat issue which caused a suspension failure," Steiner revealed, quoted by Motorsport.com. "It was heat from the brakes.
"Kevin was defending, and it tipped over. It was just because of the high temperatures here. We just need to manage it better. Nico's car was OK."
Indeed, Hulkenberg’s car was thoroughly checked by Haas’ crews during the red flag period that followed Magnussen crash.
The Dane’s VF-23, which featured in Mexico the most recent update package introduced by the team in Austin, was extensively damaged.
But Steiner said that the team currently has enough spares to deal with the wreck.
"We are okay. It's not ideal, but it's okay,” he said. “It's always better at the end of the season. Now you can't any more parts even if you want them."
©Haas
In hindsight, Magnussen reckoned that he had perhaps given an early warning just a few laps before his crash that something was off on the left rear corner of his car.
"I'm feeling okay," he said, speaking shortly after his mishap. "The suspension gave up. The rear left specifically lost a lot of grip a couple of laps before that, I suddenly lost a lot of grip on that, and then it gave up after.
"I think it was going alright. At the beginning of the race, it was better, and then suddenly I fell off more than the others. And then the suspension gave up.
"So I don't know if it's related. Maybe there's something there, but I need to go and talk to the guys."
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