Williams at centre of investigation for odd F1 wing footage breach
Williams face an FIA investigation for an unusual reason at the F1 Chinese Grand Prix.
The Williams F1 team have been summoned by the Chinese Grand Prix stewards for a bizarre reason.
Williams will have to explain to the stewards why they failed to provide mandatory video footage of their wings following Friday’s running at the Shanghai International Circuit.
The alleged breach of the technical regulations relates to a recent technical directive imposed upon the teams by the FIA amid its flexi-wing clampdown.
F1’s governing body is monitoring the flexing of front and rear wings with more stringent tests from this weekend’s second round of the season in China.
Williams are alleged to have fallen foul of TD034L, which requires all F1 teams to attach high-resolution cameras facing front and rear onto their cars.
FIA technical delegate Jo Bauer has referred Williams to the stewards, though the hearing has been delayed until 8.30am local time on Saturday morning.
According to Bauer, Williams “failed to provide the video files recorded by the wireless forward and rearward facing cameras within one hour after the end of the first free practice session”.
Alex Albon qualified ninth for the China sprint race, while new Williams teammate Carlos Sainz was 13th.
Carlos Sainz still not at one with Williams car
Sainz has admitted he is still not feeling at home behind the wheel of Williams’ 2025 challenger after his disappointing sprint qualifying result.
Following his SQ2 exit in Shanghai, the four-time grand prix winner said: “I’ve struggled all day with the balance, and both sessions have been quite tough.
“In sprint quali we had a few issues, including a weird feeling with the seat that we’ll look into, but overall it comes down to me still not feeling at home in the car.
“We were struggling with some balance problems and especially coming down to Q2, not knowing exactly where to find the lap time and a bit of overdriving.
“I still have to learn and understand many things about it and I know, with more mileage, it will come. Hopefully tomorrow we can put everything together and improve today’s result for Sunday.
“It's been a difficult weekend up until now, we're trying to find the balance of the car, it feels quite different here with the wind and, as I said, I’m struggling to find lap time when it comes to qualifying.”
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