• Indian Grand Prix - FP2

Williams investigating wheel nut issue

The front right wheel nut fell off the Williams but the wheel itself stayed on © Associated Press

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Williams is investigating what caused a wheel nut to fall off Pastor Maldonado's car during FP2 for the Indian Grand Prix.

Maldonado had just carried out a pit stop but on his first lap out of the pits he ran wide at Turn 5 with sparks coming from the wheel hub and the nut fell off the right front. Unlike in Suzuka, the wheel stayed on the car but continued to spark and overheat until it eventually punctured and caused Maldonado to stop at the pit lane entrance.

While Williams said it is investigating the incident, Maldonado himself said the team would need to try and find a solution for the rest of the weekend to prevent a repeat.

"At the moment it's difficult to say something about this," Maldonado said. "It was very strange, I just felt the wheel was coming off the car but it's difficult to say. We need to evaluate very well what has happened but it's something difficult. I checked just from outside the car and it's difficult to see.

"In Formula One sometimes you can make some mistakes or even have some problems in the car. This has happened, it's happened to some other teams as well in the past so I think we need evaluate very well what happened and try to improve the car or the system for the weekend and the next races as well."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.