The Red Bull racing team suspects static electricity from an underground train forced driver Mark Webber out of last Sunday's Formula One Singapore Grand Prix, British-based Autosport magazine reported.
The gearbox on Webber's car tried to select two gears at once when he was at Turn 13 on the track, team official Christian Horner was quoted on the magazine's website as saying.
He said there was "a momentary electrical surge" at the time.
"A tram line runs beneath the track at that corner and it seems as if static from a passing tram at the very moment Mark was in the corner passed through the ground," Horner was quoted as saying in the article posted late Thursday.
A spokesman for the race promoters, Singapore GP Pte Ltd, referred inquiries by AFP to one of the companies running Singapore's rail network. The transit company could not immediately comment.
Copyright 2008 AFP Global Edition
