Following the heartbreaking end in the lead of the race for the #3 Mercedes-AMG, Dani Juncadella spoke to media, including Motorsport Week, about the technical issues that cost them the race win on the Green Hell.
Dani Juncadella experienced a driver shaft issue early in his midday stint on Sunday, which forced him into the garage, where the car still remains: “I went out of the pits, everything felt normal, and then after like half or one third of the lap, I saw an ABS failure message popping on and off. I reset the message, and it was ok, but then I realized the ABS is not working.
“So I was driving without ABS, but actually it was not that bad. I could somehow manage, I adjusted the brake balance a little bit to try to avoid locking the front tires, and it was drivable. I felt like they wanted me to box to find the issue, but I figured it’s better if I continue, and maybe we figure out what we can do. But then I started hearing some noises, and I think we ended up, I mean of course, then the car became undrivable, I felt like at some point something was going to break.
“So I drove slowly back to the pits, and we encountered an issue in the driveshaft, which then created some extra collateral damage in the rest of the car. And that’s what probably created the issue with the electronics not being configured and disconnecting the ABS,” explained Juncadella.
Dani Juncadella praises Max Verstappen
The #3 Mercedes was in a comfortable lead ahead of the sister #80 Mercedes, with not much competition left. Retiring from the lead was not what the crew expected: “It’s heartbreaking because we had an amazing race, we had a perfect race. I’ve been dreaming of winning this race for a long time, but for sure today it hurts.
“We are just race car drivers, that’s our sport, we love our sport, but at the end of the day racing is like that, there are many things you cannot control and it can hurt one day, but it also doesn’t have to be a big drama for a long time,” continued Juncadella.
Juncadella also praised Verstappen on his 24h race debut, highlighting his impact to endurance racing.
“He came here without any fear to face himself against the best in our job, and he excelled in what he did. He gave an amazing show to all the people, he created an amazing awareness for motorsport for the future, and he had a lot of fun. Of course, he’s a competitive character like myself, like all of us, and we want to win, and our ultimate dream is not complete, but maybe that’s a reason for him to come back again next year.”
READ MORE: Exclusive: Christopher Haase says racing Max Verstappen felt like ‘battling for 10 Years’
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