Software glitch hindered Vettel’s qualifying

2014 Australian Grand Prix

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Sebastian Vettel’s qualifying performance was impaired by a software problem on his car, Red Bull have confirmed.

Vettel was knocked out in the second phase of qualifying having been 2.4 seconds off new team mate Daniel Ricciardo’s pace.

A faulty sensor was later found to have contributed to Vettel’s problem. Team principal Christian Horner said: “It was unlucky for Seb.”

“His engine software meant he was down on power with extremely poor drivability and we need to understand that, as it compromised his qualifying.”

Despite his difficulties Vettel said the team have “made a big step forward with the car”.

“But of course I’m not happy that we didn’t make it to Q3,” he added.

“I think the car is quick, but we struggled this afternoon with drivability which, in these conditions, made it even worse.

“The car seems good and Daniel did a very good job to be on the front row, so congratulations to him. It’s going to be a long race tomorrow and reliability will be the most important thing to make it to the flag, but I think there will be lots of opportunities for us.”

2014 Australian Grand Prix

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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42 comments on “Software glitch hindered Vettel’s qualifying”

  1. What’s done is done. The important point now is whether it can be repaired for Sunday, and whether they will be allowed to do so under Parc Fermé without having to incur a penalty.

    1. Potentially 10 place grid, if it has something to do with the engine, as far as I know.

      1. Software glitch implies it won’t require a mechanical change (ie, hardware).

      2. Just a sensor. Won’t mean a grid-penalty.

  2. it was obvious that there was something wrong. I regard Dani very highly but there is no way he would have found 1.5 seconds in the dry and 2.4 in the wet in equal machinery over night.

    1. Agreed. And it’s a shame Vettel didn’t have a fair shot since Daniel was able to put it on the front row, there’s a very real possibility Vettel could’ve taken the fight to Hamilton for pole, and THAT would’ve gotten some fans all riled up!

  3. if this hapend to ricciardo there would be consparity theories everywhere

    1. vettel inherited webber’s car?

  4. there is no way he would have found 1.5 seconds in the dry and 2.4 in the wet in equal machinery over night.

    Why is it so hard?? There is no super difuser, no exhaust blowing… and it was wet…. I can totaly buy this! And Ricciardo has to prove why he was promoted! but I´m sure Ricciardo is going to stumble onto some software glitches from now on!

    1. @karter22 Ricciardo did well, but he has been .2-.3 behind Vettel through practice so there has to be an explanation as to what the problem is. I don’t discount Daniel’s talent but we should respect Vettel’s greater experience.

    2. I’m Australian and a fan of Ricciardo, but I don’t understand how someone can follow the sport enough to post on a discussion forum about it and still be so out of touch with reality?

      Or are are we not talking about the same Sebastian Vettel? I am working on the assumption that you are referring to the one that won last four world championships and who took his first pole and win, in the wet, in 2008, in a Toro Rosso (sans EBD of course)?

      1. Hahaha brilliant reply mate XD

    3. “DR is meant to get the glitches!”

    4. What the hell, man? What. The. Hell.

    5. Why is that always the go to accusation. “Yes… we have a multimillion dollar operation going on here and the first thing we’re going to do is purposefully handicap one of our cars.” What?! Quite a few people seem to forget that the Constructors Championship is the big one. Sure the WDC is more popular, but ultimately it comes second. RBR (especially at this stage) would be doing themselves a disservice to sabotage one of their cars, especially when that car is the only one that has qualified into a points position.

      1. He cant measure one’s greatness it seems im aHam fan and it’s been a while for him but guess what no Hamilton Alo is atleast a 4xwc but he could not handle the rookie(makes me laugh just writing this lol) and yet again Alo dont look like winning another 06 must seem ages ago.

        I think Vwt is great but although i coulnt see Ric beating him i still feel it’s harder now i mean Webber was a waster of a seat(not in RBull eyes)

        1. I laughed trying to read it. Write it again, but this time in English.

      2. @alanmiller

        Why is that always the go to accusation. “Yes… we have a multimillion dollar operation going on here and the first thing we’re going to do is purposefully handicap one of our cars.” What?

        Exactly. It’s completely unrealistic.

      3. @alanmiller so things ARE always the way they seem (?) Formula 1, unlike the rest of the world is immune from such things as spygates and crashgates…oh wait…no no, things are what they seem and if they are not, we the public will always be told the truth through the mainstream media :)

        Could never be “Yes… we have a multimillion dollar Austrian operation going on here and the first thing we’re going to do is purposefully support the one german driver to win as many WDC’s over our ‘other’ australian driver. We have a multimillion dollar operation going on here and it would not be prudent in a business or commercial sense to divide our money cow between 2 celebrities. We are sufficiently funded and and can cater towards this business strategy going forwards. Our operations have been successful enough in the championship so that we can achieve all objectives (namely constructors title) in unison with this and suffer no consequences in this pursuit” – Internal RBR memo, december 2010 :)

        1. Where could I find this internal RBR memo?

        2. Even if what you have quoted is factual it doesn’t change the argument. That quotation only shows that Vettel was the preferred driver. Not surprising because he was the most competent and consistent between the two with the rules and regulations of the time. The argument I’m making is that RBR would not purposefully sabotage one of their own cars. It’s not confidence that drives me towards this conclusion, but doubt. Doubt that RBR or any other race team on the grid would purposefully sabotage one of their own car mechanically.

          1. Doubt that RBR or any other race team on the grid would purposefully sabotage one of their own car mechanically.

            @alanmiller how would you describe the happenings of crashgate then? a race team sabotaging one of their own cars in favour of the other exactly :)…or do you doubt that crashgate or the details of crashgate are nothing but a conspiracy theory?

      4. please don’t take this quote personal, just food for thought
        “The problem with the world is that the intelligent people are full of doubts, while the stpid ones are full of confidence.” ― Charles Bukowski

    6. @karter22: I find this utterly amusing that certain peoples continue to think that a 4x world champion forgets how to drive over night – after all he was faster than Ricciardo on Friday but suddenly he was +1s slower than him on Saturday. It’s no proof but quite logical there must have been something wrong with Vettel’s car in terms of driveability.

      Unless I’m utterly wrong and it’s now logical that F1 drivers forget how to drive. :)

      1. I really don’t get this ‘ Seb was faster on Friday’ argument. Friday’s does not matter, it’s Saturday where they need to show their hands and Seb was beaten fair and square. Don’t take anything from Daniel, he was superb yesterday.
        I actually believe that it’s going to be a case this season with Dan beating Seb. No blown floor, more torque… This is a real drivers world and when there was no downforce at the back in the past, Seb has struggled. Mark my words as you’ll be surprised how good Dan is.

        1. Ricciardo was superb, but if you say beating Vettel who had mechanical issue is ‘beating him fair and square’ then it just shows how biased and prejudiced you are against him… people like you always find excuses for Webber back then but they never miss a chance to bash on Vettel because their narrow brains have reduced them to perceiving Vettel is always ‘wrong’, unable to see the double standards and hypocrisy they possess.

        2. Finally somebody else said it!! Fact is Vettel chocked big time!! And yeah, please don´t take away anything from Ricciardo´s (whom I am not fond of) qualifying sessions. He proved to be the better man on Saturday beating the german “Senna”!! *rolls eyes*

          Oh and BTW, I knew the whole Renault is in deep doodoo deal was just a script!

          1. @Toxic @karter22Ricciardo was superb, but if you say beating Vettel who had a mechanical issue is ‘beating him fair and square’ then it just shows how ignorant you are… people like you always find excuses for Webber back then but they never miss a chance to bash on Vettel because their narrow minds has reduced them to merely hating on Vettel, unable to see the double standards they possess

  5. Has Vettel got Webbers car this year?

    1. At least his misfortune…jeje

  6. Strange both RBR speed traps are with 1km of each other. He really looked unsettled in P3 and had his hands full and brushed the wall in Q1. Sloppy driving for the 4WC. He wasn’t quick in Q1 and if the problem was what they say it is why couldn’t they address the problem for Q2? Dunno a part of me think he just had a bad day and might be struggling a little more than others with this new beast..

    I’ll believe them this time.

  7. There was a software PROBLEM, yeah, he was sending tweets and the phone crashed. Come on!

  8. I have to say that the majority of the comments on F1 fanatic far exceed the quality of comments on any other website I go to ( especially the NewsCorp owned one in the UK). Hats off to ya boys – the depth of some people’s knowledge on here is tip top.

    1. Michael Brown (@)
      15th March 2014, 17:04

      The Vettel bashing isn’t as severe here

      1. Isn’t AS severe.

  9. Was wondering when the pro-vettel excuses would be touted by this fanboy website.

    Didn’t take long. He was destroyed by his teammate, and shown up for the fraud many F1 fans have known him to be all along.

    1. I’m not “touting” anything – your beef is with Christian Horner – and I’m not “pro-” anyone either.

      Adopting your logic would lead us to believe a driver can win four world championship in a row by driving nearly two-and-a-half seconds per lap off their car’s potential. Or that Red Bull are happy to spend nine-figure sums building racing cars but don’t care they aren’t driven anywhere close to their limit.

      Both ideas are nonsense, obviously.

      1. That was a reply to sgtpepper of course. Reading comments like that and many others make me feel as though I’ve lost brain cells because they’re so stupid and ridiculous.

  10. I’m really annoyed that some people have this kind of mentality: ” I hate this driver because he wins too much, so every time things don’t go his way it means he sucks and he is only making excuses because there is no way a driver i don’t like is actually good at racing, he is just a fraud”

    Just because you don’t like a driver that doesn’t mean that you can’t at least try to recognize his skill in comparison to you favorite driver, also how can you say a driver is not that great with only the point of view of an outsider? Only the team knows the true potential of a car and driver, and those that don’t get near the limit of their equipment are (usually) dropped sooner or later.

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