End-of-day report. Post 14, from Stavelot (near Spa). I don’t have a television at the post. I read the account the next day, with the thermos.
Initial start postponed. Heavy rain at Sepang. About forty minutes after the scheduled time, the cars leave the pit lane behind the safety car. Track still soaked.
During that lap, several cars slow down. One car reports that it no longer seems to have any power. Three cars stop on track. All three restart. The start procedure is abandoned. Everyone goes back into the pit lane.
Cause: a bug in the power units. Power was no longer being redeployed. A software update was needed. It was sent to the teams, who installed it. About twenty minutes more.
Observation. Nikolas Tombazis, the FIA’s single-seater director, said: “The software had been tested, it just hadn’t been tested in those exact conditions.” The exact conditions: rain, and cars crawling along. At the post, we call that a Sunday.
He also said: “A bug is, by definition, an error.” Noted. It is the first time I have read a definition in a document that comes from above. Usually, we get “noted”.
My equipment, for comparison. One yellow flag, two. A radio. A camping chair. A thermos. None of it has software. The thermos is thirty years old. It has never needed updating before the start. It needs filling at six o’clock.
The director added that they were sorry. I am logging it. In thirty years, it is the first apology I have read addressed to people who were waiting in the rain. It was for the fans. I am a fan too, on Mondays.
Nothing further to report.
It’s true, we checked: Nextgen-Auto · Formule 1.
