A race control error left several cars down on power during sprint qualifying at the Singapore Grand Prix, leaving several teams frustrated while Aston Martin still considers its options. The first segment of sprint qualifying at Marina Bay was red-flagged to clear debris from Sergio Perez's front wing. When the session resumed, a human error in race control meant overtake mode, the power boost normally active throughout qualifying, was not reactivated. Several drivers reported being down on power as a result.
Realising the mistake, a race control official reactivated the mode for 27 seconds before deactivating it again. Cars that set their best laps before the stoppage had used the boost as normal, while others were left unable to improve without it or were eliminated outside the top 16. Arvid Lindblad, Lance Stroll and both Williams cars were among those knocked out in SQ1. Williams asked race control to let all 22 cars advance to SQ2, but the stewards declined, unsure whether they had the regulatory capacity to do so. A request to re-run SQ1 was also refused due to a lack of available tyre sets.
As FIA single-seater director Nikolas Tombazis met the affected teams, Williams and Racing Bulls were reportedly extremely frustrated but indicated they would not protest the results. Aston Martin, however, wants the sprint grid to reflect a fair playing field and is keeping its options open depending on any FIA action. It is understood there will be no further changes to the sprint qualifying result.
The incident is the second significant hiccup in consecutive weekends, following a software glitch that delayed the start of the Bahrain Grand Prix. A separate timing issue, controlled by F1 management, also failed to register several lap times in SQ1, leaving drivers unsure whether they had done enough to progress. The FIA apologised, acknowledging the human error affected certain cars based on their run timing and position around the lap, while the second and third sprint qualifying periods were unaffected.
Source: Autosport F1 News · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing