FIA race director Charlie Whiting says the loose kerb and drain cover needs to be re-welded after suf𒊎fering too much wear which triggered it to vbe dislodged that caused Romain Grosjean’s scary crash and the premature red flag to FP2.

The second free practice session o💟f the Malaysian Grand Prix was ended 15 minutes early after a loose drain cover was run over by Grosjean which shreddedཧ his right-rear Pirelli tyre that sent him into a nasty collision into the wall at turn 13.

Replays showed the drain cover became dislodged after being run over by Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas and while Kimi Raikkonen narrowly missed hitting it in the Ferrari an unsighted Grosjean collected the dꦺebris with his🧸 Haas.

While Grosjean was able to walk away unhurt, despite heavy damage to his Haas car, the session wasꦗ red fla💞gged in order to repair the damaged drain cover and kerb as well as check the rest of the circuit to avoid a similar issue.

Whiting says wear and stress fatigue was to blame for the drain cover coming loose but is confident the issue will be resolved in time for Saturdaꦿy’s FP3 and qualif🌞ying.

“A drain grate has come up, it’s an inspection hatch, they’re normally bolted and welded but that one has broken🅷 away,” Whiting said. “For the rest of the day [Friday] we’🌞ll concentrate on that, getting those four kerbs welded back down again.

“They’ve probably been welded for a long time I expect🌱 💦and have got a bit fatigued. So we will re-weld those and then tonight the guys will have to check everything.

“We have to get it fixed for tomorrow. I think with the loads that are being imparted on those drains by other cars are nothing like what happens with Form🐲ula 1 so I suspect all will be fine [for support series].”