In the round-up: The fault which ruined Logan Sargeant’s race in Bahrain happened before, the driver revealed.
In brief
Sargeant suffered “critical” fault before
Williams team principal James Vowles said Sargeant’s lock-up at turn four during the race, which briefly brought him to a stop, was caused by a fault on his steering wheel.
“Drivers are frequently adjusting what’s happening with the brake bias and how much the brake migrates forwards and backwards,” he explained in a video released by the team. “There’s a rotary [dial] to be able to do that, and in that circumstance what happened is all of a sudden the brake bias went very, very forward. You saw that with the front locking he had.
“The car was otherwise fine, but clearly we could not have uncommanded moving of that brake bias and we need to understand that immediately. That sort of fault is critical both for racing and also safety.”
Sargeant finished last, two laps down as a result of the delay. He said the problem happened before.
“It was frustrating as we had the steering wheel electronics issue in qualifying and then it returned,” he said, “so the most important thing is that we need to understand the root cause of this and get it fixed.”
Horner in the eye of the storm
Red Bull team principal Christian Horner had the support of his wife Geri during Saturday’s race after documents allegedly relating to the company’s investigation of him were leaked. Chalerm Yoovidhya, who owns 51% of the soft drinks company and is reported to be backing Horner, made his latest appearance at a race alongside them (pictured).
Jos Verstappen (also pictured) heaped pressure on Horner, saying over the weekend “the team is in danger of being torn apart” and “it can’t go on the way it is.”
Onboard the F1 flypast
Sebastian Vettel previously drew attention to the unnecessary emissions created by flying almost empty aircraft over tracks before F1 races as publicity stunts. Influencer Michael Downie got a first-hand look at how the pre-race flypast at the Bahrain Grand Prix is arranged, though the question of waste never came up:
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Links
Motor racing links of interest:
Wer letzte Nacht am schlechtesten geschlafen hat: Horner (Motorsport Total – German)
‘Ford is currently said to be discussing at the highest level about rethinking the planned collaboration and possibly even pulling out of the deal.’
‘According to an observer standing close by, Ben Sulayem told Verstappen: ‘You must publicly back Christian.’’
Kobayashi amazed Toyota salvaged sixth in Qatar (Sportscar365)
‘Looking ahead to the next race, rather than just feel frustrated, I think we have to put the (Balance of Performance) to one side and think about what else we can do as a team in this situation. These are the regulations, so it’s not our problem.’
Ferrari the second force behind the super-Red Bull (Minardi)
Gian Carlo Minardi: ‘At the end we witnessed the exchange of positions in (RB) between Tsunoda and Ricciardo. An operation I, honestly, would not have made since Ricciardo had been behind his teammate all week. At least the Australian should have given back the positions to the team mate once he understood he could not have overtaken Magnussen. Unfortunately, this did not happen.’
Record attendance at Bahrain Grand Prix marks 20th anniversary milestone (BNN)
‘A staggering 37,000 spectators gathered for a spectacular night race in Sakhir, culminating in the highest single-day attendance in the event’s history, with a total of 100,000 fans over the weekend.’
‘On Thursday 29 February a team of Extinction Rebellion activists infiltrated the City of London HQ of global advertising and media agency McCann Worldgroup to protest about the company’s reported bid for another stint as top greenwasher for fossil fuel giants (Formula 1 sponsor) Saudi Aramco.’
Trying rain in iRacing for the first time (Casey Kirwan via YouTube)
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Social media
Notable posts from X (formerly Twitter), TikTok and more:
Red Bull Racing spokesperson: “There are no issues here. The team are united and we are focused on racing.” #F1
— Philip Duncan (@PhilDuncanF1) March 3, 2024
My timeline is full of negative reactions to the #BahrainGP. Watching Nigel Mansell winning in 1992 with a car ~3 seconds a lap quicker than Senna and Schumacher wasn’t exactly thrilling either, but things change eventually. The sport is not dead, just like it wasn’t back then
— Sean Kelly (@virtualstatman) March 3, 2024
So after all the research, millions $$$ invested, meetings, planning, manufacturing, decisions and panics, the end result in @F1 Bahrain looked pretty much the same. Why? #blackcarsrule
— Derek Daly (@DerekDaly500) March 3, 2024
That’s a tough one to take… Running out of fuel after being 2nd for almost 9h is trully heartbreaking 💔.
But that’s motorsport and we will rise from this. We have shown as a team what we can do, my team mates @nico_mueller and @MikkelhJensen were absolutely incredible 👊🏼 pic.twitter.com/D4OKPfL3ky— Jean-Eric Vergne (@JeanEricVergne) March 3, 2024
I just tried to watch this. Had to turn it off after the sponsor pitches. After 10 years selling sponsorship in FE, it was just too painful and unrepresentative. I know it’s a TV show and snapshot with ppl that don’t know the industry, but 😱 https://t.co/cSPuWAvF60
— James Parrish (@JamesCParrish) March 3, 2024
Man just watched St Pete from last year. Obviously the result sucked for us in the end, but as an @IndyCar fan that race was so good! Can’t wait for next week! LFG #thirsty3s army!
— Scott McLaughlin (@smclaughlin93) March 3, 2024
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