Ferrari believe that the engine failure, which ended Kimi Raikkonen’s European Grand Prix on Lap 46, was caused by a broken con rod. A similar issue is understood to have resulted in the retirement of team mate Felipe Massa from the previous round in Hungary.
“Initial analysis of the engine fitted to Kimi Raikkonen’s car confirmed the breakage of a con rod,” said the Italian team in a statement. “Currently underway are further checks to try and understand what provoked the failure, even if it is easy to surmise that it could be a similar problem to the one that sidelined Felipe, three laps from the end of the Hungarian Grand Prix.”
Ferrari also admitted that they had concerns about the Finn’s V8 before the Valencia race, but risked using it to avoid Raikkonen being penalized for an unscheduled engine change.
“The engineers were aware of a potential risk in general terms with the 056 engine fitted to Kimi’s car, which was on its second race, given that the con rods were part of the same batch used on Felipe’s engine. Changing the engine on Kimi’s car would have seen the Finn start from far down the grid.”
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