Suspension failure was the cause of Massa's crash: Ferrari

Felipe Massa has seen better Grand Prix weekends. The Brazilian racer was involved in not one, but two near-identical shunts on the streets of Monte Carlo.

The first of the two incidents took place during the final practice on Saturday morning when his car’s tyres locked and he crashed into the barriers at approximately 170mph. As a result, he had to drop out of the qualifying rounds immediately and start the race from the initial grid point. But, immediately after crossing the lap 29, he once again collided with the barriers at St. Devote.

Massa, 32, was rushed to the hospital for a check-up and was soon given the ‘all clear’ sign.

Ferrari had initially asserted that mechanical failure was not the reason for the crash but on further inspection of the wrecked F138, it was revealed that part of the left-front suspension had broken during the first crash.

‘The findings validated the first impressions of the engineers, confirming that the accident was caused by an element of the front left suspension breaking,” Ferrari said on their website.

With all the required inspections completed to analyze what happened at the Monegasque circuit, the Car Assembly department can now start work in preparing the car for the Canadian Grand Prix.’