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Williams deputy team principal Claire Williams says that the drain cover failure that put an end to the opening practice session in Baku is "not acceptable".
George Russell ran over the drain cover minutes into the session, after it was lifted by the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc moments before the impact.
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The crash damaged the underside of Russell's car, which is a major worry for Williams who does not have a lot of spare parts available.
“The circuit needs to make sure that their drain covers are bolted down properly," Claire Williams said. "That’s just not acceptable.
"The damage that can do could put us out this afternoon. We have another chassis that we might need to bring in. And that’s not what Formula 1 tracks should be.
"I haven’t had a chat with George yet, he looks alright from what I can see. I think the car has got a lot of damage, though.”
Despite the heavy damage and lack of spare parts, Williams is confident that Russell will be able to run the remainder of the weekend.
“I think there’s inevitably going to be quite a lot of damage,” she admitted. “You can see from the TV that’s just taken the whole underside out. That is not helpful for us at the moment.”
Williams added that the team will inspect the car to see if the Grove squad will need to introduce its third chassis or not.
"We’ll have to wait and see whether that chassis is repairable or whether we need to go to our third chassis. But clearly not what you want and clearly not what you expect from a Formula 1 track.
"You expect those manholes to be welded down. We’ll be picking that up with race control."
Azerbaijan Grand Prix
C. Sainz jr
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Replies (4)
Login to replymcbhargav
Posts: 1,332
Thats a very poor track management. I wish i could request FIA to reconsider its status.
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
Oh don't worry, Claire. You were gonna hit the drain regardless.
f1dave
Posts: 782
Street course . . . .
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
Street course. It is of course to be expected that there are kinks and woes to amend on a street converted into a track, but perhaps they could've expected that such things should've been adapted especially for this purpose. Of course, that is assuming the FIA told them this would be necessary... And the FIA is about as reliable as a Honda using fueled with hydrogen peroxide and handled with the safety margins of a n eagle nesting site in a windplant.