Damaged wheel nut caused Alonso's Hungary failure

LONDON, Aug 7 (Reuters) Renault say a damaged wheel nut caused Fernando Alonso's retirement while he was leading yesterday's Hungarian Grand Prix.

The Formula One champion's failure to finish, his first in more than a year, left the title battle finely balanced with Ferrari's Michael Schumacher 10 points adrift with five races remaining.

Engineering head Pat Symonds said in a team review of the weekend's action that a safety mechanism holding the wheel nut on had failed to disengage at Alonso's second pitstop.

''That meant the wheel nut was damaged as it was removed, and did not re-attach correctly as the new wheel went on.

''The reassuring fact is that this is a simple problem to fix, and doesn't put the exceptional reliability of the R26 in any doubt. We will have a modified solution in place for Turkey,'' he said.

The Turkish Grand Prix in Istanbul is on Aug 27.

REUTERS AY RK2250