FIA glitch grounded Barrichello’s wing in Aus

An FIA glitch marred the start of Rubens Barrichello’s Australian grand prix, Williams has revealed.

Immediately after the Melbourne race, the British team said the Brazilian driver had "problems with the sector settings on the moveable rear wing".

To Auto Motor und Sport, team manager Dickie Stanford elaborates: "Something in the race control system was wrong.

"Barrichello couldn’t use his rear wing on the home straight even though a few times he was close enough to the car in front.

"It was (mistakenly) programmed for the second sector," said Stanford.

He said the team told Barrichello not to use the wing in sector two while Williams communicated to race control by email to have the glitch cleared.

"That’s why I took so long to get past Heidfeld," said Barrichello.

Glitch aside, the paddock as a whole is reacting cautiously to the debut of the ’drag reduction system’ after Melbourne, a circuit featuring only a short main straight.

"We need to wait," Ferrari’s Stefano Domenicali is quoted by Turun Sanomat, while Red Bull boss Christian Horner commented: "It didn’t have much effect but it’s too early to evaluate."

Fernando Alonso told La Stampa: "The wing helped me to pass Rosberg, but not Button. If the pace gap between the cars is 2-3 tenths only, it’s not enough to pass."