Two of the drivers caught up in Christchurch’s crash-filled racing have blamed the incidents on a lack of on-water practice.
Speaking at a pre-event press conference in Bermuda, Australia driver Tom Slingsby unpacked the incidents, arguing the Australian team was ‘hampered’ by limited on-water training time.
The first day of racing was cancelled completely due to a dolphin on the racecourse, resulting a shortened race schedule. When racing did start, the incidents unfolded in quick succession with ROCKWOOL DEN hitting Canada in the pre-start of the first fleet race.
Canada then rebounded to hit the United States then, shortly after rounding Mark 1, Australia collided with a race mark, causing significant damage to its F50.
ROCKWOOL DEN and Australia were both handed devastating penalties for the incidents, with the Danish docked 4 season points and Aussies docked 8.
Reflecting on the incident, Slingsby said: “We hit the start line with no practice and had three crashes in 40 seconds.”
Danish driver Nicolai Sehested agreed that restricted training was to blame.
“We didn’t have ideal preparation as a team - we didn’t get any racing on Saturday or a good warm up - it was just straight into racing with all teams trying to win the races,” he said.
“If you put a Formula 1 car on the start grid without warm up laps, I’m pretty sure you’ll have issues at the first corner and I think that’s really what you saw in New Zealand.”
Slingsby added that only by giving teams more on-water training time could the league increase the size of the F50 fleet.
“I don’t think 10 (teams) is too many - we could go to a couple more,” he said. “If we get more practice, we can increase the number of boats and race effectively on the water.”
Slingsby said the Australian team - which took the event win at Season 3’s Bermuda event - is ‘looking forward’ to bouncing back when racing gets underway in Bermuda this weekend. “We're just going to move on and get a great position here.”
Racing in Bermuda begins at 2pm ADT on May 4/5.
