Former F1 driver Mika Salo has admitted he doesn’t believe a simple tear-off visor strip caused Kimi Raikkonen’s brake failure at Spa.<\/p>\n
Raikkonen’s first retirement since his return to formula one might be seen as a knockout blow to his championship hopes, as he drops behind Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen in the chase to beat Sebastian Vettel to the title.<\/p>\n
As the F1 paddock was disassembled at Spa late on Sunday, Lotus still had not definitively identified the cause of the brake failure.<\/p>\n
But then it was announced that a plastic helmet visor tear-off strip had entered and blocked the brake air duct.<\/p>\n
Lotus reacted with its usual humour, posting a survey on its website asking if the team should react by adding more ‘iceman coolant’ in future.<\/p>\n
And on Twitter, the team jokingly pointed the finger at Vettel, posting a photo of the world champion with a visor strip and captioning ‘We think we know where the infamous brake-breaking tear-off came from”.<\/p>\n
Finn Salo, however, is not convinced.<\/p>\n
“I just cannot believe the reason the team gave for the failure,” he told the Finnish broadcaster MTV3.<\/p>\n
“Even the braking duct becomes so hot that, if it had gone in there, it would have melted.<\/p>\n
“Lotus also had a brake problem already on Friday, but now all of a sudden it is the (visor) film?”<\/p>\n
The former Sauber and Toyota driver said he suspects Lotus simply got its numbers wrong with a latest technical development.<\/p>\n
“If the air is being channelled in a different way, it also might not go to cooling the brakes in the same way,” said Salo.<\/p>\n
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