‘What effect would that have?’ Straker asked.
Treadwell looked up. ‘For that short period of time the engine was all but switched off.’
‘But only for a quarter of a second? What would that do to the car?’ asked Straker.
‘The revs would drop right off.’
‘So it would seem like the engine had seized, I’m guessing?’ Straker offered.
Backhouse indicated an appreciation of the thinking but with a gentle shake of his head. ‘F1 engines have very little inertia, so it wouldn’t feel like it had seized — not least as the engine appears to have been working normally less than a fraction of a second later. However,’ Backhouse added with a more positive qualification of Straker’s point, ‘the shock — the jolt — of that momentary drop in revs could well, depending on the road surface, cause the rear wheels to lock-up. That could throw the car out of line — out of balance. An unexpected shock at that speed could affect anything. The loading. The aerodynamics. The weight distribution — on the road — between the front and back wheels. If all that happened, the driver — if they’re lucky, or brilliant — would have to wrestle a car that’s suddenly lost all stability and grip, particularly challenging if it was at over two hundred miles an hour.’
Straker nodded and looked at Sabatino, as if to acknowledge what had happened out on the circuit. There was a moment’s silence.
He sensed a significant change in atmosphere. ‘Does it look like we might have found the cause, then?’ asked Straker studying all the faces for confirmation.
Treadwell turned to face him. ‘It might do. It might give us an idea as to what happened, Matt, but it doesn’t tell us anything about why.’
‘Okay, let’s see,’ said Straker nodding slowly. ‘You mentioned that each valve is opened and closed electronically? I’m assuming, being electrical, that it has something to do with the engine management computer?’
Backhouse nodded. ‘It has. It’s all controlled by the EMS.’
‘So did anything happen on board to interrupt or interfere with that control?’
‘Not that we can find anywhere in the telemetry.’
‘Let me be sure I’m getting this right,’ said Straker. ‘You’re saying this was definitely not an “organic” malfunction?’
Treadwell looked at Backhouse. ‘Not caused by anything on the car, at any rate.’
Straker paused. ‘If it wasn’t tripped by anything that happened on board, how did it happen?’
Everyone looked blank.
Straker’s mind, harping back to their experience in Monaco, was anxious not to jump to conclusions. Even so, he was concerned by possible sensitivities. Sounding generous, he suggested a break for the junior team members, leaving the senior Ptarmigan figures alone in the motor home. Then he said: ‘What about some form of external interference?’
Backhouse looked at him, his expression almost accusing him of paranoia. ‘I’m not sure that’s likely.’
Straker sat back in his chair and looked Sabatino in the face, waiting for a similar reaction from her. This time, though, there wasn’t one. Quite the opposite.
‘It’s not as if we don’t have experience of such a thing, Andy,’ she said flatly.
‘Okay,’ said Straker realizing the significance of that exchange, ‘let’s look at the timing of this. When, for instance, could this momentary shut-down have happened?’
Backhouse made a moue. ‘Any time. It could have happened at any time.’
‘Except it happened — when it did. At the end of that straight — right there. Is there any significance to that?’
Sabatino started nodding very slightly. ‘It was in Q2, so critical to my getting through to the top-ten shootout.’
‘And getting a competitive place on the grid, right?’ added Straker.
‘She was on a flying lap,’ Treadwell chipped in.
‘Having not clocked a fast enough one — to make the cut for the top ten — at that point?’ confirmed Straker.
‘Correct.’
‘And with only a few minutes of the session left?’
Treadwell nodded.
Straker declared: ‘Your Q2 lap time was critical to getting a competitive place on the grid, and, therefore, your chances of scoring well in the race?’
There were nods around the table.
‘Because of this,’ he said with a wave of his hand over the printouts around the table, ‘you’ve been baulked and will start in fourteenth. Anyone wanting to damage your chances in the race this weekend could — just about — have achieved what they wanted, no?’
There was silence in the motor home as the implications sunk in.
‘Hang on,’ said Backhouse with a hint of challenge. ‘They did it at Les Combes? Why not at Eau Rouge?’
Treadwell looked Straker in the eye, then at Sabatino, and said solemnly: ‘Because that would have killed her — without question.’
The faces round the table were aghast.
Sabatino said easily. ‘A back-end lock-up in Eau Rouge, or in the middle of any corner for that matter, would have had me spin completely out of control — off the track, for sure. And at any kind of speed, that would have to have been fatal.’
‘The very end of the Kemmel Straight makes perfect sense,’ said Treadwell with an air of appreciative resignation. ‘On the straight and relatively level. Plenty of run-off. It didn’t do Remy any physical harm, and yet it’s been blisteringly effective — easily costing her a place in the top-ten shootout, let alone a likely pole.’
‘Also,’ said Straker, ‘the car exhibits no malfunctions or ill effects afterwards, as we’ve been struggling to prove.’
‘And, any such incident gets written off as a freak — even blamed on driver error,’ said Treadwell.
Almost involuntarily, Backhouse slammed his hand down on to the table. ‘Who the fuck’s doing this to us?’ he bawled.
TWENTY-SIX
Straker was anxious to push on with the analysis. ‘Let’s suppose, for the sake of argument, that we’re not wrong and that this was induced — that there was an external force. How could it have been brought about?’
After a pause, Treadwell offered: ‘Some sort of timing device?’
‘If we’re convinced the time and place of the intervention are significant,’ said Sabatino with a shake of her head, ‘they’d have to be sure of hitting me at exactly the right moment. A pre-set timer could never ensure that.’
‘How else could someone interfere with the running of a car, then?’ asked Straker. ‘What about remotely — by some sort of radio signal?’
Sabatino frowned. ‘How could we even know whether that happened, this long after the incident?’
‘By keeping our eyes open for clues,’ replied Straker. ‘Let’s start by looking at all the radio traffic with the car — not just the intercom, but the telemetry and data channels as well?’
These reports were quickly printed off.
Treadwell laid them out on the table a few minutes later. Picking out the relevant time sheets, Backhouse said: ‘Here’s the data link carrier wave. Normal, up to 1.36.52.09.’
Straker took the page and studied the squiggly line — resembling the seismic measurement of an earthquake. He peered at the printout for some time. ‘There does seem to be some disturbance in the carrier wave,’ he observed. ‘Was that because of the incident, or was that disturbance the cause of it? Could interfering with the data carrier wave have thrown the engine management system?’