Mercedes say the global IT outage that disrupted their systems on Friday had “minimal” impact on their operations during first practice at the Hungarian Grand Prix.
The outage was related to an issue at global cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike and Microsoft, with the former being an official partner of the Formula 1 team.
Images were captured on Friday morning of the screens on the Mercedes pit wall at the Hungaroring showing error messages.
However, there were no obvious problems as Lewis Hamilton and George Russell participated in the 60-minute session, finishing 10th and fourth, respectively.
Speaking in a press conference after the session, Mercedes trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin said: “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.”
The global outage has impacted businesses including banks, airlines, train companies, telecommunications companies, TV and radio broadcasters, and supermarkets.
According to an alert sent by CrowdStrike to its clients, the company’s Falcon sensor software caused Microsoft Windows to crash and display a blue screen, which has begun to be referred to as the “blue screen of death”.
Crowdstrike is an official partner of the Mercedes F1 team, with the Silver Arrows using the company’s global cybersecurity systems in their trackside operations.
Before the opening session in Budapest, a Mercedes spokesperson told Sky Sports F1: “We are working closely with our partners to ensure it has no negative impact on our track running, and applying the relevant fixes.”
The FIA, the sport’s governing body, said ahead of first practice that the outage had “not affected” their services, while no other teams have confirmed any issues.
Second practice in Hungary begins at 4pm, with every session throughout the weekend live on Sky Sports F1.
Sky Sports F1’s live Hungarian GP schedule
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Sky F1’s Anthony Davidson takes a look at the iconic Hungaroring track ahead of this weekend’s Hungarian Grand Prix
Saturday July 20
8:45am: F3 Sprint
11.15am: Hungarian GP Practice Three (session starts at 11.30am)
1.10pm: F2 Sprint
2.15pm: Hungarian GP Qualifying build-up
3pm: Hungarian GP Qualifying
5pm: Ted’s Qualifying Notebook
Sunday July 21
7:20am: F3 Feature Race
9am: F2 Feature Race
11am: Porsche Supercup
12:30pm: Grand Prix Sunday – Hungarian GP build-up
2pm: The HUNGARIAN GRAND PRIX
4pm: Chequered Flag: Hungarian GP reaction
5pm: Ted’s Notebook
Next up for F1 is the Hungarian Grand Prix from Budapest on July 19-21. You can watch every session live on Sky Sports F1. Stream every F1 race and more with a NOW Sports Month Membership – No contract, cancel anytime