The ACM denies any power cut this Sunday in Monaco at the time of departure
While several media including the Reuters news agency indicated that a power cut was the cause of the report of the start of the Monaco Grand Prix this Sunday, the ACM (Automobile Club de Monaco) denied this information.
Scheduled for 3:00 p.m., the start of the Monaco Grand Prix has been postponed to 3:09 p.m. initially due to a storm that has just broken out over the Principality. The drivers then completed two formation laps behind the safety car at 3:16 p.m. before race management waved a red flag and instructed the drivers to enter the pit lane. The race will finally start 40 minutes later at 4:05 p.m. with a flying start after another formation lap behind the Safety Car.
After the arrival of the event won by the Mexican Sergio Perez, the FIA explained why the race management decided to delay the start of the Monaco Grand Prix twice and justified the choice to make a rolling start rather than ‘ ‘A standing start on the grid. According to a spokesman for the governing body reported by Reuters, a power failure at the start caused the systems on the grid to fail; namely the light boards and starting lights, while the decision to perform a rolling start rather than a standing start was due to the fact that some drivers would have been “disadvantaged” by the wetter asphalt on the left side of the grid (the right side more being protected by the trees in Monaco).
However, Richard Micoud, ACM’s communications manager, tells F1only.fr that it is not a power failure which is at the origin of the report of the departure this Sunday and that a detailed report is being drawn up to find out the exact causes: “It’s not a power outage that is causing the problem. » we confirm Mr Micoud.
“A lot of rumors circulated last night [ce dimanche], but neither the Principality nor the ACM are involved and a detailed report is being prepared. Finally, be aware that, by specifications, all specific and sensitive equipment has inverters to precisely avoid power cuts. »
The start of the race having been given more than an hour late on the initial program, the Monaco Grand Prix was amputated by a few laps and the drivers therefore completed only 64 laps this Sunday instead of the 78 laps. advertisement.