SHANGHAI — Vitaly Petrov of the Renault team described on Thursday some of the frightening powers that can be unleashed while driving at speed in Formula One — especially during a crash.
Petrov placed third in the Australian Grand Prix, finishing on the podium for the first time. At the race last Sunday in Malaysia, he crashed out with a horrendous thud as he went airborne over a curb. When he landed, the steering wheel column broke and, unable to steer, he hurtled off the track.
“I was just disappointed, I had nothing painful,” Petrov said in the paddock in Shanghai in preparation for the Chinese Grand Prix on Sunday. “I knew I would hit the curb, but I didn’t expect to fly. I was lucky that my car went straight and not to the left or the right, because if it had gone right I would have crashed a lot harder.”
When asked if the team would do something to reinforce the steering wheel, Éric Boullier, director at Renault Formula One, said no because the problem was not a weak steering wheel. He said that the team had determined that the car hit the pavement when it landed with the force of about 30 Gs, or 30 times the force of gravity.
Petrov had another problem that fans could not see on television. He described how the little balls of rubber that fly off the treads of the cars in front and that litter the track become projectiles flying at the driver throughout the race.
“I think I received quite a lot from Ferrari, and it even comes straight into your visor,” he said. “I think I had three or four shots. And off the racing line it is a disaster. If it hit your hand it would definitely hurt, but it depends how big it is and how fast.”
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