Formula 1 was cut off in Baréin!
Sakhir’s track ran out of electricity and had to stop the second session of the first pre -season day with a red flag.
It was not a comic sketch or a satire, although it could quietly be the script of some. In the world of technology, millions of euros, of competitiveness to the extreme, in countries of firm economies … The light was cut! Yes, when an hour and 57 minutes were missing for the end of the evening session on the first day of pre -season activity in BARÉIN … everything went out.
The problem was not less, because the last part of the session had to be done at night. And the light was cut throughout the autodrome. From the hospitality, offices of De Fia and Boxes and … the track! Everything got into gloom and the activity with a red flag had to stop.
The teams were left without telemetry to control their cars, the FIA ran out of controls and even the aid services were compromised. The image that occurred in the boxes was incredible: the mechanics with flashlights! Nothing was seen. The pilots got off the cars and mechanics illuminated with what they could.
After 26 minutes of break and silence, the light returned in the boxes. But not on the track. The wait continued, but at least the mechanics already had lights. Little by little, the route reflectors began to turn on, in some sectors. The cut also reached connectivity: cell phone signal was lost at the time. Finally, after 66 minutes of red flag regime, the track was again enabled for the last 50 session.
An inconvenience that, without a doubt, did not fell well to the teams that have only 24 hours of track enabled in the preseason to reach the start of the World Cup. That’s why, After an agreement between all the parties, it was decided to extend for an hour the afternoon session and thus recover that time that was lost.
