Formula 1 teams were left “blind” when a serious system failure occurred during the first training session.
TV viewers were also affected by the bug, which left them for a short time with no live images of the circuit and limited coverage during the remainder of the first practice session in Imola.
“Everyone had problems,” confirmed Haas team boss Günther Steiner. “I think it was communicated pretty quickly that everyone’s radio wasn’t working.”
The problems extended to the teams’ GPS data, which, along with their radio problems, meant that they were unable to warn drivers if a faster car tried to intercept them.
“Everyone knew that no one could see, so even the people behind cars knew that the guy in front of him wasn’t getting any advice, so that helped a bit,” Steiner added. “But it shows how important it is to have that communication.”
Display | Become a RaceFans supporter and
Aston Martin CEO Otmar Szafnauer admitted the problem surprised them. “Until you lose that kind of data, you probably don’t know how much you rely on it,” he said.
Ferrari had to stop one of Leclerc’s runs. “It was as if we were blind to the pit wall. Even driver communication wasn’t working, making things a lot more difficult. “
The breakdown contributed to a collision between Sergio Perez and Esteban Ocon, the stewards confirmed. Ferrari team boss Mattia Binotto said the loss of data and communication was “a big problem” for his team.
“Communicating with drivers from the pits is always very important for safety, functionality and reliability,” he said. “It’s not just performance, it really makes sure everything runs smoothly.”
“It was very difficult for us, especially for Charles [Leclerc], no way to communicate with him, “added Binotto.
“We stopped the first run because we had a little problem. It’s difficult because you can’t give him any advice on vehicle tracking. That means there can be situations that don’t [desirable] at all, but also very difficult for the drivers to know who is coming back. “
Ferrari had to be extra careful with its car, Binotto explained, as at this early point in the season the teams are still running parts in practice that will be used during the race.
“We run our racing genset because the gensets are the ones we have in Bahrain that will be used for the entire weekend,” he said. “So when you have problems, you don’t know how to react and communicate. So these types of problems are serious. “
Display |
2021 Grand Prix of Emilia-Romagna
Check out all the articles on the 2021 Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix
Share this RaceFans article with your network:
The post “Serious” radio and data system failures left F1 teams “blind to the pit wall” · Race fans first appeared on monter-une-startup.Did you miss our previous article...
https://formulaone.news/haas/this-is-the-result-of-combining-a-boeing-727-with-a-mercedesbenz-bus
