Out of Luck
Michael Schumacher entered the Japanese Grand Prix as favourite to win the world championship. Just under an hour after holding a commanding lead, his luck deserted him and for the first time in six years he retired with an engine failure. Did Ferrari take a gamble that backfired badly? Was there a way to foresee the failure, if not prevent it? Adam Cooper talked to technical director Ross Brawn and brings fresh new information
If the broken Mumm's champagne bottle that Fernando Alonso's mechanic failed to catch under the Shanghai podium summed up Renault's weekend in China, then perhaps it also signalled the end of the team's run of bad luck.
It seemed instead to transfer to Ferrari, and specifically on race day. As crew members climbed through gaps in the Suzuka pit wall debris fencing to go to the grid, Felipe Massa's engineer Rob Smedley failed to spot that there were solid metal crossbars at the top of the openings. He took a nasty blow to the head, and almost knocked himself out.
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