Williams seek 'hundreds of thousands' in compensation after George Russell incident in Baku

George Russell

Williams seek "hundreds of thousands" in compensation after Russell incident in Baku

His FW42 was shredded by a drain cover.

Matthew Scott

Friday 26 April 2019 17:49

Williams will seek compensation running into the "hundreds of thousands" after George Russell's car suffered a damaged chassis at the hands of a loose drain cover during Friday practice at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, forcing the tub of the FW42 to be changed completely.

The drain cover had been loosened by Charles Leclerc running over it, with Russell then helpless to avoid a big incident when he passed it soon after.

FP1 was swiftly cancelled as the 300+ other drain covers on the circuit required checking, although FP2 was able to start on-time, after F2 qualifying had been pushed back by 30 minutes.

Article continues under video

"It never rains but it pours this year," deputy team principal Claire Williams told Sky Sports, confirming that the costs would run into six figures.

"It could have been worse than it was. A drain cover coming off like that could have done a lot more damage.

"George is fine and that's the most important thing, and the FIA are clearly taking it incredibly seriously and making sure every one of those manhole covers is checked and bolted down as they should be.

"But unfortunately it's clearly done a huge amount of damage to our car. It's destroyed our floor, and has cracked our chassis.

"It's not beyond repair, but we can't repair it here, so we're going to have to deploy chassis three here for George. That means he misses FP2 this afternoon but he'll get out tomorrow in FP3."

Haas were awarded an undisclosed amount after Romain Grosjean's car ran over a loose drain cover in practice for the 2017 Malaysian GP, increasing the prospect of Williams getting reimbursed.

"Clearly we're going to have to be talking to them about that," Williams said.

"We're an independent team, and we have a very strict budget to control. Things like this, you can't anticipate. Nobody can, I understand that, but there clearly should be some recompense.

"I know there is a precedent. Haas I believe were compensated after it happened to them in Sepang a few years ago, so clearly we're going to be talking to them.

"But we can't put a number on it at the moment."