28/09/2005
NEWS STORY
Following the inaugural race of the A1 Grand Prix series, race fans raised a number of issues with Pitpass.
With regards the fact that cars several laps down were apparently able to 'legally' hold up cars that wanted to pass them - cars that were actually ahead of them in the race - many fans questioned the absence of blue flags. Following similar comments made by Team Malaysia's Alex Yoong in an interview with Pitpass, a spokesman for A1 GP has said that the organizers are "aware of this and will address it with the race director at the next event".
In response to claims that the current points system - 10 for 1st, 9 for 2nd, 8 for 3rd, etc - will lead to drivers 'settling' for positions rather than attacking, the spokesman said that A1 founder, Sheikh Maktoum, "wants it this way so that the championship goes down to the wire".
With an apparent battery problem that affected a couple of the teams, and several pitstops that appeared to go slightly awry, Global Operations Manager, John Wickham, admitted that there was "a problem with batteries on some cars", and that this is under investigation.
"The pit-stop problems were mostly self induced," said Wickham. "I have had no complaints form teams about the format or equipment. There was a lot of talk before about the revised pit stop regulations but all the teams seemed to accept the format in the race."
"Other than a lack of spares, there were no serious problems," he added, "and that will improve week by week.
"Actually, it was a relatively trouble free event from our side!" he declared.