The room fell silent.
‘What's up, Andy?’ Straker asked.
Backhouse said: ‘I am trying to be objective, but what troubles me is that any attempt I make to interpret the actions and timings of these hydraulics and systems leads me to a pretty ugly conclusion.’
McMahon asked: ‘Which is what?’
‘That they would form the perfect combination of interferences if you wanted that car to leave the track at that exact point.’
All three of them were stunned.
Silence returned for several moments.
Then Straker asked: ‘How are those valves and systems controlled … normally?’
‘All by the engine management system, the ECU. The instructions to control each of those valves can only come from that on-board computer. In which case, the ECU must have been interfered with in some way; the software must have been tampered with.’
‘You mean sabotaged?’ asked McMahon.
Backhouse shrugged.
Straker asked: ‘How does that happen, Andy? Would it have to have been done by someone needing to get close, physically interacting with the car – or could it be done from a distance: could we have been hacked?’
‘Matt, I really don’t know,’ said the Brummie. ‘I’ve never seen anything like this before. We need to look at everything, and be alive to every possibility until we get to the bottom of it.’
‘How quickly can you do that?’ asked McMahon.
‘At the moment, not ever … not until we get to examine the wreckage …’
Straker said: ‘Even so, Andy, it looks like we’re clearer, now, on what was done? But without access to the wreckage, we can’t fully get to know the how – and so we won’t get to know the who.’
McMahon's eyes suddenly widened. ‘Oh my God,’ she said. ‘What if this was done by someone in the team? What if someone within the team sabotaged the car?’
FORTY-ONE
Realizing they were now dealing with a concerted intent to do Ptarmigan harm, Straker and McMahon worked on into the night. A takeaway pizza arrived at nine o’clock.
Making them aware that they weren’t alone in working late, McMahon received an email from Pokrovsky shortly afterwards.
‘Anatoly's managed to track down some footage taken when Ms Sabatino arrived at Vnukovo Airport,’ she announced dabbing her mouth with a paper napkin.
‘What's the significance of that?’ Straker asked.
‘He's sent it up because there was a large crowd there to greet Ms Sabatino when she landed, which included the mayor of Moscow. Anatoly says it's the closest thing he could find to a “rally”.’
Straker leant in to study the clip. McMahon clicked the link. A clip of poor quality mobile phone footage was soon running. Whoever had filmed it was standing in the car park at the back of the terminal, in among the crowd – about twenty people back from the low-loader and a little over to the left. The shot offered a slightly side-on view of Sabatino and the mayor as they stood on the back of the lorry.
McMahon turned up the sound. It was just about possible to hear Mayor Pavlova's speech, except it was in Russian. Then Straker saw McMahon's look of concern.
‘What's up?’ he asked. ‘What is she saying?’
‘Pavlova is declaring that she helped to bring the Grand Prix to Moscow.’
‘Okay?’
McMahon translated: ‘A showcase for Russia, the Grand Prix … she criticizes Tarkovsky's homophobia … the Grand Prix will demonstrate … the country's desire for social freedom, diversity … tolerance of human rights.’
McMahon stopped talking as the crowd roared its approval.
Then, on the screen, Straker saw Mayor Pavlova offer and take hold of Sabatino's hand and raise them both high into the air. McMahon translated:
‘This remarkable woman is going to teach this country a great lesson about equality – about the power of merit.
‘Women are going to show this country that change in Russia is demanded.’
The crowd, once again, showed its enthusiastic approval.
‘Good grief,’ said McMahon.
‘What's wrong with that? It all sounds pretty innocuous. Just a bit of puff – bigging-up Russia.’
‘Oh, it's not that innocuous – and it's not just what's being said,’ McMahon replied as the clip ran on.
The person taking the footage chose that moment to hold the mobile higher above the heads of the crowd and to pan round behind them.
‘Look at the size of this gathering,’ said McMahon. ‘I had no idea it was as big as this.’
‘Is that big?’
