» STR mechanic sacked after Singapore GP

Reports in the Spanish press are claiming that the Toro Rosso team has fired one of its mechanics following the Singapore Grand Prix.

Viewers may recall Jaime Alguersuari qualified a career-high eleventh on the grid for the street race, but was forced to start from the pit lane after his STR5 developed a coolant leak.

It turns out that the leak apparently could have been prevented, with the AS newspaper claiming that an unnamed mechanic had discovered the leak some five hours before the race started, but did nothing other than regularly wipe the puddle of water forming underneath the car.

By the time the Faenza squad discovered the lead – by which point Alguersuari had already left the pits to form up on the grid before the race – the team did not have enough time to repair the fault before the pit lane closed.

A frustrated Alguersuari finished the 61-lap race in twelfth place and a lap adrift, when he potentially had the pace to collect a useful points haul for the outfit.

This isn’t the first time that a mechanic’s gaffe has cost a driver a valuable result, with Jenson Button retiring after his Mercedes engine let go in the back of his McLaren. The fault: a mechanic forgot to remove the tape blanking off his McLaren’s radiators before the race started!

[Original image via Sutton Images]