Following an investigation instigated by speed.com's F1 correspondent Adam Cooper, Williams Grand Prix has confirmed that Rubens Barrichello's crash in Monaco was caused when the left rear wheel struck a loose drain cover.Tonio Liuzzi, who was following Rubens, told Cooper after the race that he had seen something flipped up by the Brazilian - who was running unusually close to the barrier - for several laps. On the final occasion, the Williams spun out of control.
"I was behind Rubens. It was pretty weird. I saw already two times before he was going really close the left guardrail and there was something lifting from the ground, then once I saw this thing lifting completely and I saw Rubens flying into the wall. I thought he touched the left wall, this is what appeared to me... Something was lifting from the ground when a car was going that close to the left wall. He was always going really close to the left wall and there was this thing on the floor."
Adam Cooper reported Liuzzi's words to Patrick Head and Frank Williams, but they were initially sceptical as the drain cover that caused the third safety car was further round up the hill.
Williams subsequently put out a press release saying that he'd spun as the result of a suspension failure which the team in effect took responsibility for.
However the following day after the race, Cooper visited the site and found a drain cover exactly where Liuzzi had said it was, and what's more, it was not welded down, as it should have been.
Cooper sent his photos to Patrick and Sam Michael, together with Liuzzi's testimony, and later forwarded some screenshots from Liuzzi's car supplied to him by a race fan. Williams changed the direction of the investigation and asked FOM for high definition on-board footage from both Liuzzi and Rubens.
At the same time Cooper, called FIA Race Director Charlie Whiting, who knew nothing of this second drain cover and after Cooper sent him the photos he went to view it for himself and he was surprised to find that it was loose. Whiting and Michael discussed the issue when they met at yesterday's Technical Working Group meeting in London, which was followed by an official team's statement:
"Following an investigation, AT&T Williams confirmed today that the cause of Rubens Barrichello's crash at the Monaco Grand Prix on Sunday 16 May 2010 was a loose manhole cover at Turn 2. As Rubens' car drove over the manhole cover, the cover was spun up and hit the rear left wheel, causing failure. The car was badly damaged in the ensuing crash which ended Rubens' race. This incident has been reported to the FIA."
The Monaco organizers have been now been asked by Whiting about the incident. Usually the track is carefully checked each morning, but it could be that it only came loose after being struck during the race either just by Rubens or perhaps one or two other cars that ran close to the barrier there.
The mystery is how it could have dropped back into place after being hit each time without any marshals noticing it. It’s possible that a marshal replaced it during the safety car period for Barrichello’s accident, but it seems unlikely that could have happened without race control being informed.
