F1 hit by travel chaos with teams left without CARS days before Chinese Grand Prix as FIA release statement
FORMULA ONE teams have been hit by travel chaos days before the Chinese Grand Prix after technical issues in Melbourne.
Several teams including McLaren, Red Bull, Mercedes, Aston Martin and Williams have been hit by the problem, leaving them without their cars for the second race of the season, according to F1 insider Kym Illman.
Teams have been hit by travel chaos before the Chinese Grand Prix[/caption]
Teams affected include Williams, McLaren, Mercedes, Red Bull and Aston Martin[/caption]
With the quick turnaround between the Australian and Chinese Grand Prix, teams would have expected car parts to arrive on Monday evening or Tuesday morning after being shipped out on Sunday.
However, technical issues have delayed the arrival of some car parts.
Illman reports the teams were told their parts would arrive at 10am on Wednesday morning, but have now been told they will not receive them until 4 or 5pm.
This means that teams have seen around 30 hours of their preparation time to get the cars ready for the first session of the weekend wiped out.
The freight transport issues have also hit the sport’s tyre supplier, Pirelli.
The FIA released a statement ahead of the weekend – which will see the season’s first Sprint Race – providing a one-time-only concession on the curfew of the fitting schedule of cars.
It said: “Due to the logistical challenges for the official tyre supplier resulting from delays in freight arrival, specially the requirement to revise the fitting schedule for Wednesday, the following concessions will be made.
“On the Wednesday, and for this event only, the curfew period will be reduced by a period of five and a half (5.5) hours for a maximum of six (6) operational personnel for the sole purpose of tyre preparations post tyre fitting from the tyre supplier.”
Illman reports that members of the crew have been waiting around in hotels away from the track, effectively with the days off, as they wait for the parts to arrive.
Delays in car parts arriving are not uncommon in F1 but, with a tight schedule to fit into, time is of the essence if the issue is not to impact heavily on the likes of Lando Norris or Max Verstappen.
Lewis Hamilton’s Ferrari team were not mentioned in the report but could have still seen parts delayed.
Hamilton was set for a meeting with his engineer this week to better understand each other after the Brit had an X-rated blast down his radio following a Ferrari strategy blunder.
Free Practice 1 for the race weekend will commence at 3:30am UK time on Friday.
Sprint qualifying will then start at 7:30am.
Saturday will see the Sprint Race start at 3am before qualifying for the feature race begins at 7am.
The lights then go out for Sunday’s feature race at 7am.
Norris took the chequered flag in Melbourne with Verstappen second and George Russell third as six cars crashed out of a chaotic wet race.
