Minardi today (Tuesday) released a statement explaining that they had
got to the bottom of the problem that caused Mark Webber's rear wing to
fail unexpectedly in Sunday morning warm-up for the Spanish Grand Prix.
This prompted team principal Paul Stoddart to withdraw both his cars
from the race on safety grounds. The team had also seen their front
wings fail, once on Mark Webber's car in Saturday practice and once on
Alex Yoong's PS02.
Webber's failure saw the withdrawal of that new front wing design,
while heavy impacting with the kerbs caused Yoong's problem.
"This is the toughest decision a team owner has ever to make and
we are withdrawing our cars from the race," he said in a statement
on Sunday morning. "Technically we can race our cars, but it would
be totally irresponsible of me to put those cars in the race.
"Had it happened yesterday, we would have been able to do
something about it, the only thing we don't have at the moment is time.
What we are going to do now is take the parts back to the factory and
totally analyse the parts."
This analysis has taken place, and the team today released another
statement reporting their conclusions. The outfit is satisfied that the
rear wing failure was a one-off problem related to a specific component
fitted to Webber's car alone.
"We now know that the failure on Mark's car was a one-off
problem with that component, but further strengthening will be
incorporated in all of our rear wings, purely as an added
precaution," commented Stoddart.
"Wind tunnel testing has also verified that the modification
will not result in any loss of vehicle performance. The work will be
completed prior to the Austrian Grand Prix."
On Monday Minardi conducted a series of structural checks on two
identical rear wing structures at their Faenza factory. One of these
units was tested to in excess of 2.5 times the known maximum loading
attained at any current Grand Prix circuit without any adverse affect.
The other was taken to destruction and reached three times the known
maximum loading experienced at the Circuit de Catalunya before failure
occurred.
A two-day test in Valencia had been planned for today and tomorrow,
but this was cancelled in light of the problems experienced in Spain.
Therefore, the first track action that the cars will see is going to be
Friday free practice at the A1-Ring.
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