Raikkonen dived into the pit lane to get a new set of tires when the safety car was called with around 17 laps remaining after Williams’ George Russell stalled at the exit of Turn 4.
When Raikkonen drove the safety car back into the pits at the end of the 54th lap in 12th place, Raikkonen’s right front wheel came off as he rounded turn 9 and got out completely when leaving the curve.
The Finn had to park on the main straight, which led to another safety car phase. His faulty bike stopped in the gravel at the exit of the last corner.
A post-race investigation by the FIA found that a wheel was not cross-threaded during its pit stop, but found that the team issued a statement that it did not know it had released the car in an unsafe condition.
The FIA statement read: “The stewards heard from the team representative and checked the videos and technical evidence provided by the FIA technical delegate and the team’s car telemetry.
“After examining the photos of the damaged wheel and the axle shaft, it can be seen that the wheel nut of the RHS [right-hand side] The front wheel was provided with a cross thread during the wheel change, which was not identified by the wheel gun operator.
“As a result, the front right wheel went off when the car was back in the race.
“However, the stewards accept that neither the team nor the driver had the opportunity to see that the car was in an unsafe condition and that the car was therefore not going to stop.
“Considering these circumstances, a fine of 5000 euros is appropriate.”
Raikkonen commented on the incident, saying he had “no warning” of the problem before it happened.
Raikkonen was one of nine drivers who withdrew from a chaotic season opener at the Red Bull Ring.
Teammate Antonio Giovinazzi ended a bittersweet day for Alfa Romeo in ninth place and secured two championship points. He defeated Sebastian Vettel’s recovering Ferrari, who suffered a spin after contact with McLaren’s Carlos Sainz at the start of the race.
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