MARCH 10, 2014

Every car may retire in Melbourne

It is possible every single car will fail to finish Sunday's season-opening Australian grand prix.

That is the claim of Roberto Dalla, the head of F1 electronics supplier Magneti Marelli.

He told Italy's La Gazzetta dello Sport that the electronics of the cars have become so much more complicated in 2014, without a corresponding increase in the amount of pre-season testing.

"Last year," said Dalla, "there was a single unit made by McLaren that was the brain of every aspect.

"But now it only has control of a portion, and the underlying challenge is to be able to operate like an orchestra the engine, the turbo, the recovery systems.

"To find the right solutions will take another two to three months," he claimed.

"Doing it during three winter sessions with only 12 days in total was a real mission impossible.

"In Melbourne, it could happen that all the cars do not see the finish line, because every team experienced serious problems in testing," Dalla added.

(GMM)