The Scuderia Toro Rosso team endured a difficult day at the Yas Marina Circuit as two separate rear rim failures for Daniil Kvyat curtailed not only his day but team-mate Carlos Sainz Jr’s day as the team investigated the problems.
The first failure for the Russian happened after just four laps of first practice, with the issue with the left rear causing a puncture that saw him pull off the track, while a second puncture in the second session saw him spin at turn seventeen before recovering to the pits.
As a precaution, the team decided to stop their running with both cars while the problem was looked into, with Formula 1 technical delegate Jo Bauer amongst those who took a look at the wheel in question.
“After facing two failures on the rear rim of Daniil’s car today, it was decided to avoid sending Carlos out on track again because we still haven’t understood 100% where the problem is coming from,” said Team Principal Franz Tost.
“We will now work hard tonight, together with the engineers back in Faenza, and hopefully we will sort it out for tomorrow.”
It is not the first issue that Toro Rosso have had with their wheels in recent races, with failures happening during sessions for both the United States and Brazilian Grand Prix.
