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Formula E
HWA admits driveshaft problems "annoying, disappointing"
Ulrich Fritz says HWA and its ABB FIA Formula E powertrain supplier Venturi must urgently fix the "annoying and disappointing" driveshaft problems that have arisen at recent races.
Alex Kalinauckas
Published: Mar 28, 2019, 11:00 AM
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Gary Paffett retired from last weekend's race at Sanya with a driveshaft issue, which followed his teammate Stoffel Vandoorne failing to finish the race in Hong Kong with the same problem.
Paffett also suffered a driveshaft issue in first practice for the Hong Kong event.
The driveshaft is a part of the FE powertrain that is unique to each manufacturer, rather than supplied by the championship's chassis builder Spark.
Explaining the driveshaft issues to Motorsport.com, Fritz said: "Gary was picking up pace, the strategy was to save as much energy as we could and then maybe benefit from a safety car.
"But then unfortunately we had another driveshaft problem and that really seems to be a weak point at this moment.
"We need to sort it that before Rome with our manufacturer Venturi because it is annoying and disappointing as well.
"They are working hard with their suppliers but obviously the problem hasn't been solved since Hong Kong and there are a few long hours ahead of us, I would say.
"For us it looks like it is a quality issue at the moment. We have had two driveshaft failures on Gary's car and they look like quality issues.
"So we need to get that sorted with the supplier because otherwise there is no worth going racing.
"The driveshaft is a manufacturer part, it's not our part.
"Every manufacturer has their own driveshaft. It's a Venturi part but of course they don't manufacture it themselves, they have a supplier."
Venturi declined to comment when contacted about the HWA driveshaft issue by Motorsport.com.
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