In the second part of the qualifying session, which took place this morning at 8 AM and could be followed on a live commentary on casinoenlignefrance.eu.com, Petrov experienced a loss of power from his engine block. Stalled on the track, the Russian caused a red flag 2 minutes before the end of Q2.
By the time the car was removed, radio comments initially suggested a gearbox failure. The Lotus Renault GP team now aims to be reassuring.
« The Russian driver’s car suddenly lost power. The engine’s air supply was cut off, causing a loss of power. For the moment, we see no reason to change this engine, » commented a team official.
As a reminder, changing a gearbox would result in a 5-place grid penalty for the Russian driver. The engine block, however, would not cause Petrov to lose any positions since his engine quota would not yet be exceeded.
