MASSA'S Hockenheim Engine Failure

What was the reason for Felipe's enghine failure? This has been one very hard answer to find, even the peopl I know in Italy would not answer.

Has anybody read or heard of any official (not some theory) reason for the failure?

 

You mean Hungary.

 

Ron the people in Italy say this:

Translated to English:

It appears to have been one of the four piston rods (being supplied by an Austrian company) on the the right side of the engine which would have opened a leak in the underside of the V8... On Tuesday Austrian technicians visited Maranello to discuss the failure of the engine. Coming out of the factory, the piston rod of the V8 may have cracked due to the counterweight which is to damp down vibrations of the driveshaft of the engine.

 

Anything that rev's to 19K has to give eventually. Nothing like a flash cube motor.

 

This looks like a repost, sorry. Andreas, can you delete this?

 

AFCA: "It appears that on the testbench in Maranello - probably simulating one of the upcoming Grand Prix - an engine failure occured that was similar to the one Massa had in Hungary. It is not known whether it was the same piston rod that caused the problem. The Austrian company that supplies these parts might make improvements to them."

 

So how this this work within the engine freeze rules? If an engine part is found to be the cause of failure, is the manufacturer allowed to strengthen or otherwise improve it or not?

 

Fortunately this news/rumour has been denied by the GeS (underlining that it was really a one-off failure by one particular part), in fact the updated engine did pass all its tests at the testbench. Badoer is going to verify the changes (which overall, I reckon, are absolutely minor) during the shake down for Valencia. Normally during shake downs no GP-weekend engines are used (not unnecessarily stressing them) but this time it will be an exception.

The Austrian company has improved the way the way they operate as well as the quality measures they carry out, which Ferrari repeat before mounting the engines in the car. Changing Raikkonen his engine has never been taken in consideration.