The Haas F1 Team has blamed a brake-by-wire failure for preventing Romain Grosjean from starting the Singapore Grand Prix. As a result, the Frenchman was unable to complete the formation lap and was sent packing in the garage.
The brake-by-wire system was first introduced into the Formula One cars by the FIA in 2014. Basically, this is the system that links the driver’s brake pedal to a computer, rather than physically to the rear brakes. This is important in Formula One, as the power units currently have an energy recovery system that allows the power unit to generate energy from the rear brakes and store it in a battery. The brake-by-wire computer is vital in ensuring that the perfect balance of ERS braking and regular braking is applied.
Without the brake-by-wire system, the cars would rely solely on the physical brakes, increasing brake wear or the drivers could lose control of the brakes entirely. In either situation, the team were not able to send the car out onto the race under its current condition.
“Romain, well I think he’s happy the weekend’s over and he can focus on the next one,” explained the team principal, Guenther Steiner. “His weekend started badly and ended worse by not even starting the race due to a brake-by-wire issue. We’re still investigating why it happened on his lap to the grid. I think the only thing for him is onward and upward, and Esteban keeps improving. Now we get ready for Malaysia.”
Grosjean had a far from perfect weekend in Singapore, as technical issues forced him to set out the first session of the weekend. He called it the “worst Friday you could imagine”, also saying that it was “a very bad way to start one of the most difficult grand prix of the year”.
