It ended just before Carlos Sanchez’s Belgian Grand Prix began after the Spaniard suffered a technical failure on the way to the grid.
Smoke billowed from the back of his MCL 35 as the McLaren driver made his way to the pit half an hour before the race at the spa.
He reported the problem and immediately returned to the pit. He went straight to the garage and the team jumped out of the car noticing the issue.
Read more: Norris blasts O’Connor for ‘dangerous’ out lap at Space after qualifying in P10
McLaren then confirmed that Sanz would not start the race by blaming the exhaust failure on his car.
The team said: “Carlos’ DNS was due to a PU issue that led to exhaust failure, which we will investigate further after the race.”
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It’s a bitter tweak for Sanz, who has a strong seventh qualifier for the race – Belgian G.P. For its best grid slot position.
This is the second year that Sanchez has suffered an initial disappointment at the spa: it ended on its parade lap in 2019 after the Reno Power Unit failed.
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“On the second floor of the grid I actually started smelling something on my car and all of a sudden I started to hear that the exhaust was broken.” “I went into the pits and then we found out it was really a PU issue that caused the exhaust bloat.
“For the second year in a row I haven’t even been able to start a race at the spa. It’s my favorite track – so as you can imagine, I’m not happy.”
McLaren’s hopes now rest on the shoulders of Lando Norris, who starts the tenth on the grid. He also took a disappointing race at the spa last year, when he was forced to retire from fifth place in the very last round with a power outage problem.
