Formula One world champions Mercedes have found the computer bug that cost Lewis Hamilton victory at the Australian Grand Prix and taken steps to ensure it doesn't happen again.
Trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin said in a debrief on Mercedes' Formula One website the problem wasn't what was originally suspected after Sunday's season-opening race in Melbourne.
"The issue isn't actually with the race strategy software that we use," he said.
"It was an offline tool ... and we found a bug in that tool that meant that it gave us the wrong number."
Shovlin said the tool was used to create delta lap times, in this case the difference between Hamilton's car remaining on track under virtual safety car conditions while Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel pitted.
"It's never quite an exact science because you don't know how fast a car is going to be able to come through that pit entry. You don't know quite how closely they'll stick to the delta," Shovlin said.
Mercedes had thought their four-times world champion needed to be within 15 seconds of Vettel to retake the lead from his rival, whereas the actual margin was "slightly short of 13".
The difference was crucial, with Vettel re-emerging in front of the surprised Briton on a circuit where drivers struggle to overtake and need to save fuel, engine and tyres in the later stages.
Had Hamilton known, he could have gone faster after his earlier stop to give himself a greater margin.
"In future we're going to make sure we have more margin because we want to be able to cover for Vettel doing an amazingly good in-lap to the pits, or having an incredibly fast stop," Shovlin said.
Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff had said immediately after the race he suspected a "software glitch" had cost Mercedes what looked like a certain victory, with Hamilton leading from pole until his stop.
The Briton finished second for the second year in a row.
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