A race control error that left cars down on power in sprint qualifying at Formula 1’s Singapore Grand Prix has left several teams frustrated – with Aston Martin still considering its options.
The first segment of sprint qualifying at Marina Bay was red-flagged to clear up debris from Sergio Perez’s front wing.
Once the session resumed, a human error in race control meant that overtake mode – the power boost normally active throughout qualifying – wasn’t reactivated. Several drivers reported they were curiously down on power, which was the result of the lack of additional electric boost.
Realising the error, a race control official reactivated the mode for 27 seconds before deactivating it again.
As a result of the human error, the result of SQ1 was severely affected because some cars had set their best lap during the first part, using Overtake Mode as normal, while after the stoppage other cars were either unable to improve without the extra power or were left outside the top 16 cut-off.
While the majority of cars were affected to some degree, the human error particularly affected the likes of Arvid Lindblad, Lance Stroll and the two Williams cars, who were all eliminated in SQ1.
Autosport understands Williams made a request to race control after SQ1 to allow all 22 cars to participate in SQ2, effectively starting with a clean slate. But it is understood the race stewards denied that request, because they were unsure if they had the regulatory capacity to do so. Another request to re-run SQ1 also couldn’t be granted due to a lack of available tyre sets.
Carlos Sainz, Williams
Photo by: Andy Hone/ LAT Images via Getty Images
As the FIA’s single-seater director Nikolas Tombazis met with the affected teams and drivers, Williams and Racing Bulls are understood to be extremely frustrated by the events, but both teams have indicated they are not planning to protest the results of sprint qualifying.
Aston Martin was indicating it still wanted to leave its options open, depending on any further action by the FIA to make any rectifications. Aston Martin is keen for the starting grid for Saturday morning’s sprint to reflect a fair and equal playing field. However, it is understood there will be no further changes to the sprint qualifying result, and equally the result of SQ1 is not subject to protest at this point. In any case, it is hard to see how the governing body could have pulled any levers to untangle the mess without causing further angst up and down the grid.
The issue is the second significant hiccup in two consecutive weekends after the start of last week’s Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia was delayed because of a software glitch in the power unit control systems.
The FIA race control issue was independent of a separate timing issue, controlled by F1 management, which failed to register several lap times throughout SQ1. But the lack of reliable lap times did leave several drivers confused about whether or not they had done enough to progress to SQ2, further adding to the chaos.
An apology issued by the FIA after the SQ1 error read: “During the first period of Sprint Qualifying there was a human error in Race Control unrelated to the timing issue also encountered in SQ1.
“This issue in question meant Overtake Mode was not available after the red flag period during SQ1. When it became apparent that Overtake Mode was not active after the restart, it was then activated for a period of 27 seconds before being deactivated again.
“The FIA acknowledges that this unfortunate human error had an impact on the performance of certain cars based on the timing of their run and their position around the lap. The second and third periods of sprint qualifying were not affected.”
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– The Autosport.com Team