How A Couple Of Nuts Ruled The Day

Shanghai 2012 set the stage for the Chinese GP where Nico Rosberg, son of former F1 champion Keke Rosberg takes his maiden victory.

The young German lined up next to F1 legend Michael Schumacher and follow countryman and teammate. From a stellar pole position in which he was a comfortable half second ahead of Lewis Hamilton who took a 5 position penalty for a changed gearbox, Nico took the chequered flag with a 20 second gap to second place.

McLaren's Jenson Button took second but might have been able to hound Nico for the victory if not for a botched pit stop where he lost far too much time with a sticky rear wheel nut.

China was certainly the place for tricky nuts.

Schumacher suffered a retirement on lap 12 after his first pit stop with a wheel nut that wasn't fastened.

Out of the pits and into turn 3 he knew something was terribly wrong and was forced to pull off, thus ending his day and possible challenge for victory.

Anyone watching the pitstop from a video monitor or on TV knew something was off immediately with the front right when the mechanic slammed his hand repeatedly after Schumacher's premature release from the box.

Arguably, the two drivers that might have been able to challenge Rosberg for the lead and the victory both had their race ruined by one of their nuts.



Author: Ernie Black

TWITTER: @GOGGS_ON_F1

Blog: f1goggs.wordpress.com

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