Barrichello Says He Threw the Steering Wheel to Quickly Get Out of the Car

Rubens Barrichello has talked about the aftermath of his accident in the Monaco GP, when he threw the steering wheel onto the track before exiting the car. The Brazilian has denied claims that he put his F1 rivals in danger by throwing the steering wheel on the racing line.

Barrichello had a massive crash due to a technical problem while going up Beau Rivage at high speed. The strength of the impact bent the Armco barriers on both sides of the track. When the car came to a halt, the Williams driver, frustrated by the crash, threw his steering wheel on the circuit.

The $50,000 piece of engineering was quickly run over by Karun Chandhok, who dragged it all the way to the tunnel. The steering wheel came loose and was run over again by Bruno Senna.

F1 drivers are required to reattach the steering wheel after abandoning their cars, a fundamental rule that Barrichello didn’t obey. "What was he doing? Charlie Whiting actually asked me about it. You see on the video that he just throws it,”, said Chandhok after the race.

In his defence, Barrichello said: “I threw the steering wheel because I wanted to get out of the car as soon as possible. After the shunt I was facing the wrong side of the track and the car was on fire.”

The Brazilian was defended by Williams co-owner Patrick Head: "If you are standing in the middle of a 120mph corner, you tend to think 'let's get out of here as quickly as you can'."

Barrichello hasn't received any fine for the incident.