Formula 1: Red Bull improves Vettel's car

D he failure of Sebastian Vettel seems to have been resolved. The engineers make improvements in the areas of wheel nuts and hubs. Apparently there was too much play in the drive pin area. 14 laps after the tire change on lap 9, the wheel nut had loosened so much that Vettel felt vibrations in the front left. 'Then after one and a half more laps it was all over.'

Sparks when changing tires

The tire change itself is obviously not the problem, although observers had already noticed sparks several times , as the Red Bull - Mechanics pounded the wheels onto the wheel hub with their impact wrenches. The suspicion arose immediately that the torque was being used too high for the sake of speed. Red Bull has been one of the fastest crews in the pit lane since this year. Timo Glock suspects: 'Maybe they copied something from the Nascar series. Red Bull has a team driving there.'

In the Nascar races, every tenth of a second counts when you stop. Vettel confirms: 'That's right, we were over in the US last year and checked whether we could take over something.' Nevertheless, the fastest man in the first two races rules out that the pit stop was to blame. 'We suspect a technical problem.'

McLaren trick better than KERS

At the command post, Vettel had time to watch half the race on the TV screen . And then he realized that the McLaren could soon become a problem with their rear wing trick. 'The system is better than KERS. They can press their knees against the canal on every straight from start to finish and make up a lot of top speed. KERS only existed for seven seconds.'

One scene says everything about the McLaren advantage, according to Vettel. 'Did you see Hamilton overtake Rosberg? He was a little late on the brakes in the first corner and normally Nico would have easily accelerated him again on the next straight because he was on the better line. But Hamilton is off Pulled past him halfway through the straight, as if the other was parking. '

Not enough holes in the Red Bull

Red Bull is also considering such a system. Chief Designer Adrian Newey groans: 'It's difficult to find holes that go in and out of the cockpit.' He now hopes the FIAturns a blind eye to the Virgin Racing fueling debacle. Will Red Bull show up with a copy in Barcelona? Vettel tilts his head and grins: 'That could be difficult.'