F1 sparks causing issues in Shanghai

F1's new sparks have been blamed for a couple of incidents ahead of the Chinese grand prix.

Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton drove to pole on Saturday, but not before complaining repeatedly about an unusually hot seat.

"We changed the seat," said team boss Toto Wolff, "improved the insulation but in the end we did not solve the problem."

And Williams' Felipe Massa complained of smoke in his cockpit.

According to Germany's Auto Motor und Sport, the answer to the problem is the new titanium skid blocks on the underside of F1 cars this year.

While fans and photographers are enjoying the sparks being thrown up by the new mandatory solution, it has caused issues in bumpy Shanghai, where ride heights are low.

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Leopold

Leopold Pleijsier founded F1-Fansite.com in 2001 and has followed Formula 1 since the early 1980s. He writes about daily F1 news, race weekends, drivers and the sport’s history.

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