Red Bull questions McLaren over Webber’s start in Australia
Author of a poor start at the Australian Grand Prix, Mark Webber was reportedly the victim, according to his team, of a failure in the electronic management system provided by McLaren. The latter, however, states that the said ECU was functioning correctly.
During the Australian Grand Prix, Mark Webber did not overcome the curse that, since his debut in 2001, has deprived him of a significant result on his home turf. Yet, starting from the front row, Mark Webber could legitimately aim for the podium or even victory. However, that was not considering the very poor start he once again made.
When asked about the reasons for yet another failed start by the Australian, Christian Horner, Red Bull team director, offered a straightforward explanation: « You have to ask McLaren why the ECU didn’t work because Mark was in the dark and had no telemetry. »
Indeed, for a few seasons now, the teams have been equipped with a standardized electronic control unit [ECU] provided by one of McLaren’s subsidiaries: McLaren Electronic Systems Ltd. This system is essentially the brain of the Formula 1 cars and manages, among other things, all telemetry. However, in anticipation of the 2014 regulation changes, McLaren is offering a significant update to its ECU this year, which, during the private pre-season tests, caused some unexpected gremlins: « It’s very complex, and we are using a completely new system on an engine that is in its last year. But at least, next year, when we switch to the new engine and everything surrounding the ERS—which is much more complex than the KERS—we will have something that is ready for service, » recalls Martin Whitmarsh.
In the meantime, McLaren had committed to solving its problems for the inaugural round of the championship, which does not seem to have been the case: « We lost all telemetry during the formation lap, so we were unable to make the necessary preparations for the start. It was a complete mess. Mark and his engineers were completely in the dark, » complains Christian Horner. « The ECU problem also blocked the KERS, so by the time we restarted the whole system, it cost Mark his start as well as ground at the beginning of the race. It’s something they need to resolve because there were many issues during testing. »
McLaren team director, Martin Whitmarsh explains to Press Association Sport: « I would be disappointed if it was our fault because in Formula 1, NASCAR, and IndyCar, we have never caused a retirement and it’s something we are very proud of. It undoubtedly caused a few headaches at the start of the tests and I hope we haven’t caused anyone any problems. […] If it’s a fault that comes from our hardware or the BIOS, we will work on it […] but a team can also create an ECU malfunction just in the way they set it up. »
In the columns of Autosport, Peter van Manen, director of McLaren Electronic Systems Ltd, states that the ECU is not the cause of the problems encountered by Mark Webber: « There was an issue with Mark Webber’s data system in his garage during the formation lap. The ECU on the car was functioning well. We apologize for the inconvenience caused to Mark Webber during his race preparation and we will continue to work with the team to prevent this from happening again. »
