Global tech outage leads to pit wall chaos for Mercedes during first practice at the Hungarian Grand Prix - but the F1 team insists error messages caused 'minimal' disruption
- The global tech outage caused problems for Mercedes at Hungarian Grand Prix
- Screens on the Mercedes pit wall at the Hungaroring displayed error messages
Mercedes were disrupted by the global tech outage ahead of first practice at the Hungarian Grand Prix.
As reported by Sky Sports, Mercedes' trackside systems were impacted.
A faulty CrowdStrike software update caused the global problem and affected Microsoft servers.
CrowdStrike has been an official partner of the Mercedes Formula One team since 2019.
Screens on the Mercedes pit wall at the Hungaroring displayed error messages.
Mercedes was disrupted by the global tech outage ahead of first practice in Hungary
Error messages displayed on pit wall screens before practice at the Hungarian Grand Prix
Trackside engineer Andrew Shovlin admitted work had to take place but disruption was minimal
However, Mercedes stated that the disruption to practice was 'minimal'.
George Russell took part in the 60-minute session and finished fourth, with Lewis Hamilton finishing tenth.
Mercedes trackside engineer Andrew Shovlin said in a press conference: 'We've had great support from them (CrowdStrike) and all our partners.
'There was a bit of work that we had to do. We've got a lot of computers around the garage and on 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. It created a bit of work, but we're back where we need to be.'
Mercedes star Lewis Hamilton was still able to take part in practice on Friday
The tech outage led to Sky Sports News being taken off air earlier on Friday.
Football clubs including Manchester United were also disrupted as they were forced to delay the sales of tickets.
The global technical fault caused Windows computers to suddenly shut down, which led to departure boards turning off at airports such as Heathrow, Gatwick and Edinburgh.
Train passengers were also told to expect delays due to IT issues, with some GP surgeries also shutting down.
