The Minardi team is taking major precautions following two front wing failures during practice and qualifying for Sunday's Spanish Grand Prix. "All the front wings are being flown to Faenza now and will be strengthened overnight," said team principal Paul Stoddart. "We then have permission to fly back at four o' clock in the morning and they should be back here tomorrow in time for the warm-up."

The first failure occurred during morning practice when Mark Webber's front wing dropped beneath his car at 180 mph on the main straight. Fortunately Webber was able to maintain control, even though the front of the car reared up in the air. He returned to the pits without further incident, although the session was stopped to clear up the debris. "That was a Mark 1 wing, the original, and we immediately withdrew those wings," continued Stoddart.

The second failure occurred when Alex Yoong went off over the kerb at the final corner. "It shouldn't have occurred there," said the Malaysian driver, "because we use that kerb all the time." Again, he managed to maintain control of his car without any further damage being suffered, even though its front wheels, too, reared up in the air before returning to ground. But by then alarm bells had begun to ring.

Stoddart initiated the precautions and ordered all the wings be sent back to Minardi's base in Faenza, carried on a scheduled flight by technical director Gabriele Tredozzi. There, the central pylon will be strengthened. "It was built to withstand 5G," said Stoddart, "but I think anything would have broken up on an impact like that."

Stoddart has ordered one of his planes to Faenza to fly the strengthened wings back to Barcelona. "Sometimes it helps to own an airline," he quipped.