Canada: Tiago hits the "Wall of Champions"

By Huw Alban
June 23 2006

In the dying seconds of the first free practice session in Montreal the live timing screen showed the session had been yellow flagged and that Tiago Monteiro was in a status of STOP. Since the session ended the reason for the stoppage became clear.

Put simply Tiago took the last chicane very very fast and was unable to turn out of the corner fast enough. The right front of the car connected with the wall ripping off the front wing, wheel, and disintegrating the front suspension. The rear wheel and suspension got a whack too as did the whole right hand side pod assembly.

Early reports suggested that he might have damaged his hand. Video footage made available by contributors to this sites forum show that the Portuguese driver was flexing the fingers of his left hand, but that could have more to do with the wrench that the steering wheel would have given when the front left wheel impacted. To my eyes his hands looked fine, and in any case the team physio would be able to deal with any discomfort.

The damage looks pretty substancial, and the team will have their work cut out to get the car ready for the second session in two hours time. One advantage of the crash location is that it is only just across the road from the pit lane, so the team won't have to wait long to get their hands on the car.