Kobayashi ECU problem under review

Kobayashi

The reason for Kamui Kobayashi's Italian Grand Prix retirement was a faulty electronic control unit (ECU), with the Japanese driver having had to abandon his car in the pit lane shortly after the start.

Setting off from 13th on the grid, Kobayashi had hoped to challenge for a points finish in Italy although he was eventually forced to start from the pit lane before coming back in at the end of the first lap.

“I’m very disappointed," he said. “I think I would have easily scored points here, because my car was good in race conditions, but already on my first installation lap I realized there was something wrong with the car and then I had problems with shifting.

"I went back to the garage and the pit crew tried everything to fix it. I then started from the pit lane. We gave it a try, but it didn’t come as a surprise when I had to stop fairly soon because of the problem. It's a shame, but these things happen. I’m very much looking forward to going to Asia now."

“There was a problem on Kamui’s car which appears to be an ECU problem," added Technical Director James Key. “We need to look into it further to understand it but the problem caused damage to his gearbox on his out lap. We changed the ECU but the gearbox was too badly damaged."