Williams brings temporary fix for F1 steering wheel glitch

Sargeant was sent skidding off the track at Sakhir last weekend after the brake bias moved unexpectedly and caused him to lock up.

Williams revealed afterwards that the problem had been caused by the brake bias changing in a way that had not been requested.

Team principal James Vowles told Autosport: “With Logan, we have an uncommanded brake bias movement all the way to the front, which is why he went off. The brake bias moved nowhere near where he requested it to be.”

Speaking ahead of the Saudi Arabian GP, Sargeant said the problem had been traced back to an ‘electronic issue’ related to the team’s change of steering wheel design for this year.

“There is a short-term fix for here and a permanent long-term fix coming in Melbourne,” he said.

Sargeant revealed that the problem had actually first come to light in qualifying in Bahrain.

“It wasn’t out of the blue,” he explained about the race issue. “We had the same problem in the second run of quali, but not to the same extent. We obviously thought we fixed it. We didn’t. But certainly, it is fixed for this weekend.”

Williams has changed its steering wheel design for this year, joining other teams in having the electronic dashboard incorporated into the wheel rather than totally separate.

Sargeant said the revisions had contributed to the problem emerging, but he backed the new wheel design which he said was hugely beneficial in racing.

“It’s quite a huge difference,” he said. “You know, from driving the old one to driving the new one for the first time, it’s very visually different.

“The feeling of the steering wheel through your hands, through a corner, the way it rotates is very different. And definitely takes some time.

“But I think it’s definitely the right direction. We struggled a lot last year with VSC, safety cars, following delta times, and stuff like that. You need to be able to see it at all times.

“There’s so much that can be won or lost with it, just by being able to see the dash. So I think it’s a very big improvement.”