Telemetry issues for the FIA in Melbourne
The FIA informed the teams today of a telemetry issue that affected race control. This problem resulted in a system deactivation, which will have consequences for the drivers in tomorrow's race.
During Formula 1 Grand Prix races, the different flags waved by the race marshals from the trackside are also displayed by LEDs in the cockpit of Formula 1 cars, but this system will not work tomorrow for the Australian Grand Prix due to a telemetry issue.
Charlie Whiting, the FIA race director, sent a note to the teams to inform them of an issue in the telemetry system linking race control to the different cars on track. As a result, race control has decided to disable the system, meaning that blue, yellow, and red flags will not be displayed in the cockpits of the cars, so drivers will need to be more attentive than usual.
The problem also affects the management of DRS; race control will not be able to automatically disable the DRS, which is usually the case when the safety car enters the track, when a yellow flag is present nearby or in the DRS zone, or when there are visibility issues on the track. The DRS will be automatically activated at the beginning of the 3rd lap and to address this deactivation problem, race control will send messages to keep teams and drivers informed in case of a need to deactivate and reactivate the DRS.
In addition to managing flags and DRS, the problem also affects the deployment of the safety car. Normally, the cars switch to a specific mode when the safety car enters the track, but tomorrow in Melbourne, this specific mode will have to be activated manually by the drivers when they see an SC board at the side of the track.
