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The dramatic accident that befell Lewis Hamilton during qualifying for the European Grand Prix appeared to turn the wheel of F1 fortune even further in Kimi Raikkonen's favour yesterday, as the Finn took pole position while the Englishman lay in the medical centre.
The accident happened with five minutes and 13 seconds of the final qualifying session remaining. Hamilton, who had been quick all weekend, had just made a pit stop to have his final set of tyres fitted, and had completed his subsequent out lap.
In the first sector he set what, up until then, was the fastest time. But as he accelerated towards Turn 8, which is taken in fifth gear at around 260km/h and is due to be dedicated in Michael Schumacher's name today, either the right front Enkei wheel on his McLaren Mercedes, or its Bridgestone tyre, failed even before he attempted to turn in.
The dynamics of the resultant accident were not dissimilar to that which Schumacher himself suffered at Silverstone eight years ago.
At seemingly diminished speed, the McLaren bounced over the gravel trap, but it actually impacted at 100km/h into the tyre wall.
This was hard enough for the rear wheels to momentarily leave the ground. The onboard camera then revealed Hamilton immediately moving his legs in the cockpit as his own reflexive test of wellbeing, and he extracted himself partly from the car to a standing position within the cockpit, before being assisted by medics.
He then appeared to be winded, as he first sat and they lay by the side of the track. He was taken by stretcher to the medical centre and was seen to wave his right hand to the crowd.
Investigation immediately centred on a reported problem with the right front wheel airgun during the previous pit stop in which Hamilton's car was fitted with its final set of tyres before his all-out qualifying run.
The wheelnut could not be fitted properly due to insufficient air pressure in the gun. A second gun was employed and that was thought to have cured the problem, but it appeared that the nut then backed itself off up to the fail-safe mechanism during the ensuing out lap.
It then either machined into the wheel or allowed the tyre to foul some bodywork, causing a puncture. The session was red flagged for 30 minutes as Hamilton was taken to the medical centre.
When the session resumed, Felipe Massa took his Ferrari round in 1m 31.778s, but his team-mate Raikkonen soon lowered that to 1m 31.450s to take pole position, and Alonso's 1m 31.741s response put him ahead of the Brazilian, too.
Nick Heidfeld was fourth for BMW Sauber on 1m 31.840s. At the time of his accident Hamilton had only been burning fuel off, so his fastest lap of 1m 33.833s left him 10th, his worst-ever qualifying position in F1.
While Raikkonen said that his car had only really regained some lost grip when it was refuelled ready for that final stint, Alonso explained how it felt to sit in his car for half an hour during the red flag period.
"It was a difficult moment. It's not easy, for sure, if an accident happen to one of your cars. But this is F1, this is motor racing, so you try to keep on with your work and now after qualifying there is a little bit more time to think about things. It's not nice to be sitting in the car like that, but Lewis is okay so that's the best news of the session."
He also admitted to making a mistake that cost him his chance of pole position.
"I had a moment in the second sector between Turns Five and Six. I lost rhythm with a little bit of oversteer and the car was not in my control and I was lucky to put it back on the asphalt. Pole was no longer possible."
As the session ended news came through that Hamilton was conscious and talking, no longer in pain and had no broken bones. But the fact that the gravel bed did little to arrest his car will undoubtedly lead to further debate on safety issues.
"For sure we have proved that the cars are safe," Massa said, "but there is always room for improvement. Lewis was quite lucky that he had a lot of space there. If it was a city track where the barriers are close there would be a massive shunt. Fortunately, Lewis is fine."
Fine enough to race, it seems. McLaren chief, Ron Dennis, said it was "disturbing" when radio contact could not be established with Hamilton.
"It was distressing to see his legs moving on the television," he said. "I only relaxed when I saw him in the medical centre."
The accident came at the worst possible time for McLaren, with the World Motor Sport Commission hearing into the espionage scandal looming this Thursday.
Hamilton's first words to the team, Dennis revealed, were: "I want to race," but that decision will be left up to team physio, Aki Hintsa.
- THE INDEPENDENT
