27 Jul 2009

Renault suspended over loose wheel

6:07 am on 27 July 2009

Fernando Alonso's Renault Formula One team have been suspended from next month's European Grand Prix in Valencia after a wheel came off his car during the Hungarian Grand Prix.

Race stewards ruled that Renault had released Alonso from a pit stop knowing that the wheel was not properly secured, and then failing to tell the driver.

The incident came a week after 18-year-old Briton Henry Surtees, son of Ferrari's 1964 world champion John, died in a Formula two race at Brands Hatch after being struck by a loose wheel bouncing across the track.

The decision is subject to appeal.