On lap 84 of Sunday’s Detroit Grand Prix, Louis Foster was involved in a scary crash at top speed.
The rookie’s suspension failed as he hit the brakes at the end of the track’s longest straight, and was sent spinning out of control.
He collected Felix Rosenqvist and both were sent slamming into the trackside tire barriers with considerable force.
Late Sunday night, Foster posted on social media describing that his RLL team believes they have narrowed down the cause to a single bolt failure that caused the entire incident.
“Firstly thank you to everyone for all the messages, I am ok,” said Foster’s message. “I’ve talked to Felix and I’m also very happy that his is ok. Massive thank you to the IndyCar medical team and IndyCar as a whole for continuing to put driver safety first.
“To explain what happened: on lap 83, approaching T3 at 180MPH, my front right suspension failed. This was by far the biggest and scariest crash I’ve had in my career. I’m very thankful to be able to get out under my own power.
“We believe it was caused by a bolt failure on the mounting block, but more internal investigation is required to be sure.
“Biggest bummer is that we were on for our season best result, and we led multiple laps, up the front on our strategy. But this is racing, sometimes it doesn’t love you back. See you all in two weeks.”
Complete suspension failures such as Foster suffered are rare in racing, and can quickly lead to devastating crashes in the wrong situation.
Especially on a street course where concrete walls line the track, it was a relief to see both drivers climb from their cars and suffer nothing more serious than a few bruises.
