Representatives from the team fronted the stewards in Shanghai this morning after the team failed to deliver footage from official cameras following opening practice for the Chinese Grand Prix.
FIA Technical Delegate Jo Bauer referred the incident to the stewards as an alleged breach of Technical Directive TD034L.
That directive provides for the use of front- and rear-facing cameras designed to monitor movement of the wings while cars are on track.
It’s in addition to more stringent static load tests applied to the rear wing introduced for this weekend.
Only issued to teams on Monday, TD034L required teams to fit memory cars to the cameras.
Williams was of the understanding that the cameras came fitted with memory cards provided by the FIA.
Stewards made a point of the misunderstanding in their ruling.
“TD034L made it clear that: ‘Teams are responsible for ensuring that cameras are fitted with a suitably formatted (FAT32 or exFAT format) and empty SD card at least 10 minutes prior to the start of any session during which the cameras are to be fitted’.
“They apparently relied on an email from the FIA Technical Delegate to one team member that suggested that the teams could supply their own SD cards. The team claimed that they assumed that the cameras that they installed on their cars were fitted with the SD card supplied by the FIA.
“They noticed during the middle of the session that there was a red flashing light in the cameras and reported that to the Technical Delegate. However, they did not know what the flashing light meant and in any event, it was too late to fit the SD card(s) by then.
“When the absence of the SD cards was discovered after the session, the team did not report the fact of their failure to install the SD cards to the Technical Delegate.”
Stewards also stressed that there was no suggestion that the wings were illegal, simply that TD034L had not been adhered to.
“We therefore find that the team has infringed Article 12.1.1i of the ISC and impose a fine of €50,000 euros on the team of which €40,000 would be suspended until 31st December 2025 subject to the team not committing a similar infringement.”
Williams acknowledged the punishment, attributing the issue to a “miscommunication” with the FIA.
“We had concerns over the cameras not working in FP1, and as a result were in dialogue with the FIA throughout the session,” a statement from the team said.
“Following the session, the FIA and ourselves have reviewed all procedures, and we can confirm that the failure to provide footage in the allotted time was down to a miscommunication, and internal processes will be addressed as a result so that this does not reoccur.
“For completeness we provided all footage as requested in Melbourne with no issue and will continue to support the FIA and provide all required footage in a timely manner going forwards.
“We have no concerns over the legality of our wing. It is the same wing we ran in Melbourne, is fully compliant and we did not have to make any adjustments further to the issuing of the new TD.
“Yesterday’s issue was procedural, and we are confident that we will provide all future recordings without issue.
“We understand that to ensure fair policing of technical regulations the FIA issued the resulting fine and we thank them for the constructive conversations and measured handling of this matter.”
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