Race-control record · Sepang and Singapore

Sepang, October 4 · Singapore, October 9

Twice in five days, race control's settings reached the cars differently than intended. Which cars, for how long, and where on the lap?

I rebuilt both as a race-control record: every setting race control sent, every car's acknowledgement, sealed as it happened. The page checks each signature and works out the answer in your browser.

“The FIA acknowledges that this unfortunate human error had an impact on the performance of certain cars based on the timing of their run and their position around the lap.”FIA statement after Singapore sprint qualifying, via RACER
“Enhancing the overall validation process through independent assessment and collaborative feedback.”FIA findings after Sepang, via Motorsport.com
See both rebuiltGet the records

The rebuild

One record per session. The answer to "which cars" comes out of it.

The order of events follows what the FIA has published. The cars are labelled Car 01 to Car 22, and their times, rpm and power values are illustrative, not FIA or team data. What is real is the method: each entry is signed when it happens, chained to the one before, and checked here against a pinned key.

Restart without Overtake Mode, then 27 seconds of it

After the SQ1 red flag, Overtake Mode was not available. When that became apparent it was switched on for 27 seconds and off again. Separately, the official timing system lost data (Autosport, RACER).

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Every car, every lap, and when it actually had Overtake Mode · T+ is time from the start of SQ1

greenred flagexpected, per the sealed planOvertake Mode on, from each car's acknowledgementtimed lapout-lap

What the record answers

    What it settles, and what it leaves to people

    Today the FIA can only say "certain cars". The record names them, with seconds and sectors, so stewards and teams start from the same facts. Whether anything should follow from that stays with the stewards.

    CarTimed lap after restartOvertake Mode on that lapWhereOn the out-lap

    A wet-weather power limit that took more than it should

    In some sectors with the 250 kW wet restriction, cars at low rpm lost power beyond what was intended and could not recover it there. Half the field stopped behind the safety car. A fix went across the grid during the delay, and the same configuration was reinstated for Singapore (Motorsport.com, RacingNews365).

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    Every car in a restricted sector: rpm against power delivered

    lost power beyond the restrictionas intendedrpm range the first build's tests covered

    What the record answers

      From delay to race start, with every car's acknowledgement of the fix

      Break it yourself

      13 ways to change the story afterwards. Each one should be rejected.

      Limit. Someone holding the signing key could write a new, consistent record from scratch. That is why the key is pinned and published, and why it should be held by someone other than the party being checked.

      Check it on your machine

      No form, no account. Download it and run one command.

      Everything, one zipBoth records, the verifier, the pinned key and 13 tamper cases.sha256 dc25d751f0411004986e8f9138ec6a980e07bdae03ec60dd787a3d227bcb3c21Singapore SQ1 record36 signed entries and the seal.sha256 eb3fcf740d7a0f038d7d8dc319eee6e9e4bcd45521ee0ef38de9baa7959742acSepang record31 signed entries and the seal.sha256 5885a522797a26018b202bd849880e5643c38eaa4771179ef0e7bcca1735e8b0The verifierRun it with Node 20 or later.sha256 3e68b862f2c79964f200966a902917ad06dc362499e1509336432c7933615ecdThe checksThe same file this page runs in your browser.sha256 9243923747da3b28170ff84d2d2576673540cf1bb92a15d0e2bb00b111092047The pinned keyThe recorder key every entry must match.sha256 a08b645955a3ea37eeda3350f9cd2cede803ec41ab6ee846a93abc3bd192644c
      unzip hive-race-control-kit.zip && cd hive-race-control-kit node verify.mjs singapore-sq1.json sepang-race.json tamper/*.json

      Both records are also entries in Hive's public transparency log, so they cannot be quietly swapped later.

      Where it sits

      Beside race control and the standard ECU. Never between them.

      Race control

      Each setting it sends (Overtake Mode, power limits, software builds) is sealed with the time and the role that sent it. Nothing about how race control works changes.

      Every car

      Each car's control unit acknowledges what it received, with the build digest. That is what turns "certain cars" into a list.

      Afterwards

      Authorized people at the FIA, the teams and the stewards check the same record offline. Everything Hive builds runs today. Connecting it to race control and the ECU data happens at onboarding.

      What this does not show

      Hive does not set modes, push software, decide anything or sit in the path to the cars. Race control and the standard ECU keep doing that, and the stewards decide what follows. A record shows what was sent, what each car acknowledged and when, and that none of it changed afterwards. It does not show a setting was right or a car was faster because of it. The order of events here follows the FIA's published statements. The car-level numbers are illustrative. The records were signed with a demo key Hive holds, so they are not independent.

      If you run race control, a series, or a team and want to see this on your own data, write to me at [email protected].

      Sources