Formula One news

Jaguar address start-line problems

The Jaguar Racing team undertook a one-day test at the straight-line Santa Pod facility in England this week to iron out the problems they have been having making starts at the first two Grand Prix of the season. The most dramatic problem came in Malaysia where Mark Webber's stunning qualifying run went to waste as he made a sluggish getaway from second on the grid.

"To launch an F1 car from the grid requires a delicate balance of torque, too much and you have wheel spin, not enough and the engine revs drop and causes bogging and in turn the anti-stall kicks in," explained Jaguar's managing director David Pitchforth. "The engineers spent a lot of time in Malaysia working out the torque levels but there are a lot of factors involved and we had underestimated the amount of grip that the tyres would have on the grid after the formation lap. After the anti-stall kicked in, Mark had to re-set but of course by then we had already lost numerous places. This was disappointing for us but the main thing is we understand what happened and we can now work on correcting this for future races."

"We undertook a one-day test on Friday with Bjorn Wirdheim at Santa Pod to help us understand all the variables better," he revealed. "Although we were frustrated with the start, we all have to learn these things and now what is important is taking the action to ensure you don't suffer again. We are on a steep improvement curve and there are highs and lows along the way and as long as we keep learning, we will keep progressing."

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