Caterham fined after Van der Garde loses wheel

2013 Spanish Grand Prix

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Caterham have been fined ?óÔÇÜ?¼10,000 (£8,460) for sending Giedo van der Garde onto the track with a loose wheel.

The team warned Van der Garde his wheel was loose after the pit stop and told him to drive back to the pits. The wheel fell off shortly afterwards.

The stewards took note of this in deciding Caterham’s fine, stating: “The team instructed the driver to drive the car back to the pits even though they were aware of the wheel not being attached correctly.”

2013 Spanish Grand Prix

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Image © Caterham/LAT

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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10 comments on “Caterham fined after Van der Garde loses wheel”

  1. Keith, No penalty for HUL for ramming into the back of STR??

    1. @icemangrins Hulkenberg had a ten-second stop-go penalty during the race.

      1. aaah I see.. didn’t catch it in TSN coverage here in Canada.

      2. I don’t really understand why Hulkenberg didn’t back off after being released – there was the space and time. Only once the Toro Rosso turned into its pit did they touch. Did he expect the Toro Rosso to drive past his box??

  2. Caterham acted dangerously twice: once by failing to ensure that the wheel was properly attached in the pits, and again by instructing van der Garde to drive back to the pits rather than pull over immediately. We see it far too often in F1 that drivers try and get heavily damaged cars back to the pits rather than retiring on the spot, and one day it will end in tears. It should be dealt with much more harshly than it currently is.

  3. Giedo warned the team about the wheel through the radio. A shame, he was having a great drive up untill that point.

    1. Yeah, I was gutted he finally showed some decent pace.
      He is no Frijns but I still root for him.

  4. I’m so glad Caterham changed the nose on that car. It looks pretty now!

  5. Did RedBull get a penalty in China for the exact same thing with Webber? Probably not…

    1. They were fined half as much as Caterham because unlike Caterham they told Webber to stop the car right away when they realised.

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