Suspension failure adds to Virgin’s woe

After flirting with the catastrophic prospect of failing to qualify for the opening Australian Grand Prix a fortnight ago, only to get the car on the track and equal their best finish of their debut season, they once again face a race against time in Sepang this weekend.

For yesterday, Belgian driver Jerome D’Ambrosio suffered a suspension failure in the first free practice session of the Malaysian Grand Prix, forcing the Marussia Virgin Racing pit crew to go into overdrive.

The Dinnington outfit’s team principal John Booth explained: “We’ve had a challenging start to our weekend.

“We experienced what we suspect was a suspension failure to the front right of Jerome’s car, which was obviously disappointing.

“The combination of the wheel flailing on its tether and the car ending up in the gravel trap meant that the damage was quite considerable.

“As the problem occurred just a few minutes before the end of Free Practice 1, we faced a major battle to rebuild the car and get out on track in Free Practice 2 for at least an installation run at the end of the session.

“Despite a monumental effort by Jerome’s crew we missed out by just a few minutes, so it’s been a challenging day on that side of the garage.”

Timo Glock fared better for the Yorkshire team, finishing 19th fastest in practice and less than five 10ths slower than Jarno Trulli in the Lotus.

Booth said: “Timo seems reasonably happy with the car, which has at least provided us with some opportunity to gauge where we are.

“We have a lot of work to do overnight to ensure we are in a better position for qualifying.”

Red Bull’s Mark Webber set the fastest time in both practice sessions yesterday.

The Australian was nearly two seconds quicker than McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton ahead of today’s qualifying session for the second grand prix of the season, with Mercedes’ Michael Schumacher a surprise third fastest.