Williams breaks F1 curfew for Kubica chassis change
Williams has broken Formula 1 curfew rules to change Robert Kubica’s chassis overnight at the German Grand Prix after discovering damage to the Polish driver’s car “which was not repairable at the track”.
Speaking after Friday practice, Kubica was left frustrated by breaks to key parts on his Williams – running its upgrade package for back-to-back tests – which compromised his running.
Williams has broken Formula 1 curfew rules to change Robert Kubica’s chassis overnight at the German Grand Prix after discovering damage to the Polish driver’s car “which was not repairable at the track”.
Speaking after Friday practice, Kubica was left frustrated by breaks to key parts on his Williams – running its upgrade package for back-to-back tests – which compromised his running.
Williams has opted to switch the Polish driver to the team’s spare chassis for the remainder of the German GP but will still use all the new parts delivered for this weekend which will also be installed on teammate George Russell’s car for FP3.
“We will have to revise everything and fix some parts in order they stay attached to the car, it is the second weekend in a row that something is breaking down,” Kubica said.
“When you leave the garage and already on installation lap [there are issues] you are compromised… it was very important for us to do our programme, which we set up, but unfortunately we were influenced by this straight away, so not an easy day.”
It marks the second time Williams has had to revert to a spare chassis during a race weekend in 2019 after Russell sustained heavy damage during FP1 at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix after hitting a loose drain cover.
A busy night in the garage after we found some damage whilst rebuilding #RK88's car overnight, which was not repairable at the track.
— ROKiT WILLIAMS RACING (@WilliamsRacing) July 27, 2019
We've changed to the spare chassis for the rest of the weekend, and are set for #FP3 with both cars running all our new items #GermanGP pic.twitter.com/GXUv51mhvq
The British squad had hoped to find key performance gains from its upgrade package in Germany as it looks to close the gap to the F1 midfield after a torrid start to 2019.
F1 teams are prevented from working on its cars overnight between FP2 and FP3, with two exceptions permitted across a season, with Williams using their first permitted exception this weekend. Toro Rosso also from F1 curfew rules overnight for the first time this season.
