Magnussen to start Hungarian GP from pit lane after Q3 crash

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McLaren has confirmed that Kevin Magnussen will start tomorrow’s Hungarian Grand Prix from the pit lane following a severe crash during the final part of qualifying.

As Q3 got underway on Saturday afternoon, a short, sharp rain shower hit the Hungaroring, making the first corner very slippery. Four drivers all ran wide on dry tires, but it was Magnussen who was the biggest loser as he hit the grass before slamming into the wall at an awkward angle.

The incident brought out the red flag to allow the marshals to clear the wreckage. Thankfully, Magnussen walked away unharmed, but he will require a new chassis for the race tomorrow, which means that he will start the race from the pit lane.

“I’m most disappointed for the team,” Magnussen said. “I think we could’ve got another decent qualifying result.

“Now, we just need to get on with it. Starting from the pit lane will make life more difficult, but I’m determined to have a strong race. I’m just very disappointed to have made that mistake.”

Despite crashing, Magnussen qualified for the race in tenth place, meaning that all of the drivers behind him will make up a position on the grid.

In better news for McLaren, Jenson Button ended his poor run of qualifying form to finish seventh on Saturday afternoon in Hungary.

The Briton only narrowly missed out on P6, finishing less than one-tenth of a second behind Felipe Massa. However, he still feels that more work can be done.

“Until qualifying, it felt like it had been raining on me all weekend!” Button jested. “Then, this afternoon, the car felt a lot better than it had in all the other sessions. That was a major positive.

“I think it’s the ‘never give up’ attitude of the guys in the garage. We’d been playing with the set-up all weekend. It’s better now, but there’s still more work needed.”

Roger Penske discusses flying tire at Indy 500 with Dallara executives: ‘We’ve got to fix that’

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INDIANAPOLIS – Roger Penske spoke with Dallara executives Monday morning about the loose tire that went flying over the Indianapolis Motor Speedway catchfence and into a Turn 2 parking lot.

The left-rear wheel from Kyle Kirkwood’s No. 27 Dallara-Honda was sheared off in a collision at speed as Kirkwood tried to avoid the skidding No. 6 Dallara-Chevrolet of Felix Rosenqvist on Lap 183 of the 107th Indianapolis 500.

No one seriously was hurt in the incident (including Kirkwood, whose car went upside down and slid for several hundred feet), though an Indianapolis woman’s Chevy Cruze was struck by the tire. The Indy Star reported a fan was seen and released from the care center after sustaining minor injuries from flying debris in the crash.

During a photo shoot Monday morning with Indy 500 winner Josef Newgarden at the IMS Yard of Bricks, Penske met with Dallara founder and owner Gian Paolo Dallara and Dallara USA CEO Stefano dePonti. The Italian company has been the exclusive supplier of the current DW12 chassis to the NTT IndyCar series for 11 years.

“The good news is we didn’t have real trouble with that tire going out (of the track),” Penske, who bought Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 2020, told a few reporters shortly afterward. “I saw it hit. When it went out, I saw we were OK. I talked to the Dallara guys today. We’re going to look at that, but I guess the shear (force) from when (Rosenqvist’s) car was sitting, (Kirkwood’s car) went over and just that shear force tore that tether. Because we have tethers on there, and I’ve never seen a wheel come off.

“That to me was probably the scariest thing. We’ve got to fix that. We’ve got to fix that so that doesn’t happen again.”

Asked by NBC Sports if IndyCar would be able to address it before Sunday’s Detroit Grand Prix or before the next oval race at Iowa Speedway, Penske said, “The technical guys should look at it. I think the speed here, a couple of hundred (mph) when you hit it vs. 80 or 90 or whatever it might be, but that was a pinch point on the race.”

In a statement released Monday to WTHR and other media outlets, IndyCar said that it was “in possession of the tire in Sunday’s incident and found that the tether did not fail. This is an isolated incident, and the series is reviewing to make sure it does not happen again. IndyCar takes the safety of the drivers and fans very seriously. We are pleased and thankful that no one was hurt.”

IndyCar provided no further explanation for how the wheel was separated from the car without the tether failing.

IndyCar began mandating wheel suspension tethers using high-performance Zylon material after a flying tire killed three fans at Charlotte Motor Speedway during a May 1, 1999 race. Three fans also were struck and killed by a tire at Michigan International Speedway during a July 26, 1998 race.

The IndyCar tethers can withstand a force of more than 22,000 pounds, and the rear wheel tethers were strengthened before the 2023 season.