Williams has confirmed it will not take part in the fourth day of testing today after its car was damaged in Lance Stroll’s crash yesterday.
“Following a thorough inspection overnight some damage to the FW40 chassis was discovered and therefore, on safety grounds, the team will not run the car today,” it said in a statement.
“A second chassis will be prepared at track this afternoon, as originally planned, with the team aiming to be back on track for the second test next week starting on Tuesday 7th March.”
Williams head of performance engineering Rob Smedley explained how Stroll had his crash at turn five.
“Lance was out on cold medium tyres on an out lap, a lot of fuel in the car, and the tyre stepped away from him and he was an innocent victim of that happening,” said Smedley.
“What should have been a fairly little, innocuous, sideways moment brought him around into the barrier and there was some damage. But that happens and we expect it to happen. There’s no blame on his part, obviously.”
2017 F1 season
- Sepang pays Haas compensation for Grosjean’s 2017 crash
- Williams revenues rose in 2017 after Bottas deal with Mercedes
- Australian Grand Prix cost government £56 million last year
- “Grand Prix Driver” takes you inside McLaren’s nightmare final year with Honda
- Undisputed champion: 10 titles name Hamilton top driver of 2017
Jeffrey (@jeffreyj)
2nd March 2017, 7:53
Williams is fortunate to have someone as experienced as Massa…. Imagine them having two rookies like STR did two years ago
Andy
2nd March 2017, 8:15
More importantly they need someone in the car who can directly compare it to last year. Hence why they needed Bottas or Massa for continuity through these significant changes.
Dim sim (@dimsim)
2nd March 2017, 9:21
Agree. Continuity is important when attempting to back one crap year onto another. Massa is the perfect choice.
Denis 68
2nd March 2017, 8:17
Lucky daddy is paying for it all.
Boli (@boli)
2nd March 2017, 8:21
The bill for all of Strolls damage has probably already exceeded his sponsorship
Jeffrey (@jeffreyj)
2nd March 2017, 9:18
Exeeded €40m (roughly 1/4 of Williams entire budget)? Nah. Not yet ;)
Ninjenius (@ninjenius)
2nd March 2017, 8:22
Early days but having seen videos of the incidents, they looked completely innocuous and avoidable. He may be new to F1 but he’s certainly not new to open-wheel motorsport.
Let’s hope for William’s sake he can keep it on track in the far higher pressures of race days, otherwise his daddy’s supposed $80m will quickly be eaten up by repair bills.
Gary
2nd March 2017, 10:20
I’d like to think that Williams were intelligent enough to put a crash-damage clause into the contract, something along the lines of: “the $50 million payment to Williams to place ‘junior’ in a race seat at all Grand Prix for 2017 includes up to $5 million of crash damage; all crash-damage suffered by ‘junior’ beyond that level will be reimbursed to Williams, at cost, by Daddy-Stroll, payment due on receipt of invoice”.
ExcitedAbout17
2nd March 2017, 10:33
Thus Massa can enjoy his retirement after all; just $5M richer ;)
bukester (@bukester)
2nd March 2017, 14:33
Hopefully he won’t be the next Maldonado