McLaren Electronics Systems has issued an apology to Mark Webber and Red Bull after its software, which is present in all 22 cars, caused the team some issues prior to the start of the Australian Grand Prix.
Christian Horner initially blamed Webber’s poor start, which saw him drop from second to seventh, on the Electronic Control Unit (ECU) which is manufactured by MES and is mandatory in all the cars.
However McLaren rebuffed the claims, stating that the ECU was functioning correctly. However they have now issued an apology after an investigation found an issue with the software which resulted in the team having to reset the system, losing data from the formation lap in the process.
“The electronic units themselves ran without incident in Melbourne, but there was a software-related issue that meant that Mark Webber’s Red Bull Racing car’s garage data system had to be re-started during the formation lap,” it read.
“That disrupted his preparations for the start of the race, for which Mark and the team has our apology. We are working together with them to prevent any recurrence.”
The ECU controls the powertrain and DRS, and acts as the car’s primary data system for gathering telemetry. It was upgraded this season in anticipation of the 2014 season when it will have to handle almost twice as many inputs through 400 channels.
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