F1: Gutierrez's chassis damaged by crane

Esteban Gutierrez will change chassis for this weekend's Bahrain Grand Prix after the one used in Australia was damaged by a crane removing the Haas following his crash with Fernando Alonso.

After Alonso ran into the back of Gutierrez during the race at Melbourne's Albert Park, the initial impact damage to the VF-16 did not appear too severe. But Gutierrez will race a spare chassis initially used in pre-season testing due to the additional damage sustained during the recovery process.

"There was a bit of damage on the rear, to the floor," said Gutierrez, "but I think the chassis was broken by the crane, just cracked. It's not ideal. I've a new chassis for here, which doesn't really make a difference."

Suggested to Gutierrez it will likely mean more work on setup during Friday practice, he replied: "It is more tricky. You pull apart the whole car and then you do it again on a new chassis, so there is always a little risk of something wrong. But the team has been doing a great job and we have good guys working on it."

Haas team principal Gunther Steiner has confirmed the damaged chassis from Australia will now serve as the spare in Bahrain following repairs.

"We ran this chassis at the test," said Steiner of the one Gutierrez has for this weekend. "This is our spare chassis which we have now put back in service.

"The one damaged in Melbourne came back [to the paddock] yesterday, because we sent it from Australia back to England to be fixed, then it came back here." [The damage] wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.

"It's all fixed now, so it will be ready to go tomorrow."

Originally on Autosport.com