Canadian GP: Sauber's Felipe Nasr blames DRS mistake for crash
Sauber Formula 1 driver Felipe Nasr says accidentally pressing the DRS button caused his heavy crash in final practice for the Canadian Grand Prix
The Brazilian was weaving aggressively in an attempt to bring his tyres up to temperature when he speared off into a concrete wall on the back straight.
Nasr was taken to the circuit's medical centre as a precaution and he insists that despite a stiff neck, which has been taped, he is fit to compete in Sunday's race.
"I was trying to bring up my tyres to temperature because I'd just completed a run on them," explained Nasr.
"I did my first lap and I came in. We had to use those same tyres so of course they drop in temperature.
"When I went out I was trying to bring them up to temperature and that was maybe my second lap trying to weave on them.
"When I went to the back straight we could see that the wind was a lot stronger today, and I think when I was doing the weaving, somehow I pressed the DRS and that caught me by surprise. It's simple.
"There's nothing I could have done because it happened so quickly."
Sauber did an impressive job to repair the car in time for qualifying, with Nasr ending up 15th fastest, two places behind team-mate Marcus Ericsson.
"I'm not feeling anything else apart from my stiff neck and I'm ready to race tomorrow," said Nasr. "This is not going to ruin my confidence.
"We didn't have any issues on the chassis so looking at the big picture the result in qualifying is still pretty good.
"From what we've been through, everything is to play for tomorrow with the race."
NO UPGRADED FERRARI ENGINE FOR SAUBER
Ferrari used three of its engine token allocation as part of an upgrade for this weekend's race, but customer team Sauber has not received the update according to Nasr.
"We haven't got any upgrade on our side, it was only Ferrari," said Nasr.
"I think we're going to get the updates after the summer break and I've heard Spa might be the one.
"We're still using the same spec of engine that we had at the beginning of the year."
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About this article
| Series | Formula 1 |
| Drivers | Felipe Nasr |
| Teams | Sauber |
| Author | Lawrence Barretto |
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