Red Bull and McLaren disagree on poor Webber starts - Webber's slow start in Australia is attributed to McLaren's ECU
Published by Christine
Mark Webber lined up on the front row of the grid in Australia, alongside polesitter and teammate Sebastian Vettel. When the lights went out, Vettel surged forward, but Webber found his car slow to move, and he was down in seventh place before he could blink.
After the race, one in which Webber also suffered from troubled pitstops and faulty KERS, team principal Christian Horner placed the blame squarely at one party’s door, saying: “Mark’s problems were hugely frustrating as it was an ECU issue that is supplied by a third party - I will let you guess who that is.”
That would be McLaren Electronic Systems, an offshoot of the McLaren Group. Horner added that they had no telemetry from the formation lap, they had to reset the system and the start was compromised.
However, managing director at MES, Peter van Manen has responded by saying simply: “There was an issue with Webber’s data system in the garage during the formation lap. The ECU on the car was fine.”
