SINGAPORE, Oct 10 — Formula One’s governing body, the FIA, has admitted that human error in race control caused some drivers to have less engine power than others during Friday’s sprint qualifying session for the Singapore Grand Prix, reported Xinhua.
The problem occurred after a red flag in the opening session (SQ1), caused by Sergio Perez damaging the front wing of his Cadillac, and affected drivers differently depending on their position on the track and the timing of their flying laps.
The FIA said overtake mode, which allows drivers to use additional electrical energy, was automatically disabled during the stoppage but was not immediately reactivated when the session resumed.
Officials subsequently enabled the mode for 27 seconds before switching it off again, leaving some drivers with a power advantage over their rivals.
“During the first period of sprint qualifying there was a human error in race control unrelated to the timing issue also encountered in SQ1,” the FIA said in a statement.
“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 governing body said the second and third sessions of sprint qualifying were unaffected.
Williams driver Carlos Sainz, who was slowest of all and eliminated in SQ1, criticised the inconsistency and questioned why the FIA had not intervened to ensure equal conditions for all competitors.
“Half the cars did the lap with half a second quicker engine than the others,” Sainz said.
“There was another software issue and we were on the bad end of it, and for whatever reason, the FIA, like in Malaysia, again didn’t decide to do sporting equity.”
Sainz acknowledged that his own performance had been poor and that brake problems had also compromised his session, adding that he did not believe he would have progressed even without the power deployment issue.
Racing Bulls driver Arvid Lindblad and Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll were also among those affected and eliminated in SQ1. Stroll’s teammate Fernando Alonso encountered the problem but advanced to SQ2, eventually qualifying 15th.
Mercedes driver George Russell was told over team radio during the session that the reduced power was caused by an FIA settings issue, while several other drivers complained of unexpectedly limited energy deployment.
The incident came just a week after a separate software malfunction disrupted the initial starting procedure for the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia, prompting further questions about the reliability of the systems governing Formula 1’s new generation of cars.
Friday’s qualifying was also affected by an unrelated timing system glitch that prevented some lap times from being recorded correctly at the end of SQ1.
The problem briefly delayed the start of SQ2 while officials verified the results and established the correct running order.
The FIA said the power deployment error was separate from the timing malfunction, and there was no indication that either problem had directly changed which drivers were eliminated from the opening session. — Bernama-Xinhua
