Toro Rosso’s Brendon Hartley says he had “no warning” over the suspension failure that pitched him into the wall at the British Grand Prix, ruling him out of qualifying.
Hartley was on an early push lap in Saturday morning’s final practice session at Silverstone when a lower wishbone on the front-left suspension of his STR13 failed as he approached Brooklands.
The left-front suspension shattered and the damage sent Hartley into a spin and he caught brief air as he bounced across the gravel trap, before slamming into the wall.
Hartley was uninjured in the impact but the resultant damage ruled him out of qualifying, and he is set to start Sunday’s race from the pit lane.
“It was very instantaneous,” said Hartley. “There was no warning.
“I didn’t hit any kerbs and there were no vibrations beforehand, so the moment that I hit the brake pedal, which is probably some of the highest forces that the suspension sees, we pull around 5Gs.
“Obviously I tried to fight the car, and slow it down as much as I could, but I still hit the wall pretty hard.”
Expanding on the crash, Hartley said: “It’s not fun. I wouldn’t say it’s scary. You’re so focused on the race car and you have adrenaline. I wouldn’t say fear really comes into it.
“Maybe the last one or two seconds when I realised ‘yep, I’m definitely going to hit the wall pretty hard’, and you brace yourself. But there’s very little time in the car to be scared. There’s too much focus and other things going on.”
Team-mate Pierre Gasly qualified the sister STR13 in 14th position, after Toro Rosso undertook a precautionary suspension change.
