Piquet anticipated his tyre failure
GP2 championship leader Nelson Piquet Jr says he knew there was a chance of his tyre failing prior to his high-speed blowout at the Nurburgring
Piquet was running sixth when the left front tyre on his Piquet Sports car exploded midway through the sixth-gear fast left-hander.
The tyre delamination threw the Brazilian into the gravel and into the tyre wall at speed. He was unhurt in the impact.
The failure was a result of a flat spot on the Bridgestone tyre picked up as Piquet fought his way back through the field after a poor start.
Piquet boldly passed Nicolas Lapierre into the chicane for fourth place but locked the left front as he did so. This flat spotted the tyre, eventually leading to its failure.
"I had to do something, I was getting frustrated being held up," Piquet said of his move. "After that, I could feel something in the car wasn't right and knew something could happen, but I wasn't expecting it there."
The result means race winner Lewis Hamilton and Lapierre have now narrowed the Brazilian's points lead to seven, but Piquet remains confident.
"At least we have the two points for pole, and we can still get the point for fastest lap tomorrow. Who knows, I have to pray for something unusual to happen.
"Maybe if I make a good start and have a good first lap, we can still make the top six tomorrow."
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