Mercedes faced issues as a result of the global IT outages that were sparked by a Crowdstrike software update on Friday, but the team says it limited the impact on its running.
There has been widespread disruption to IT systems around the world that Crowdstrike – a Mercedes team partner – says was triggered by an update to its antivirus software designed for Microsoft Windows. Prior to the start of FP1, the screens on the Mercedes pit wall were seen to be down, but trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin says the situation was quickly resolved at the Hungaroring.
“We’ve had great support from and all our partners,” Shovlin said. “There was a bit of work that we had to do. We’ve got a lot of computers around the garage and in pit walls and things here, and those all needed updating, but we’ve worked through that. The impact in FP1 was minimal, if not nil. So, as I said, it created a bit of work, but we’re back where we need to be now.”
Once track action did get underway, Mercedes was unable to follow up its victory at Silverstone by remaining at the top of the standings, with George Russell fifth and Lewis Hamilton seventh in FP2, both over half a second adrift. Hamilton admits it has been a tricky start to the weekend, although he believes there is an area Mercedes can look to address overnight.