Formula 1 – free practice of Grand Prix of Azerbaijan, the accident occurred

26 April 2019

The accident opened the hatch ahead of schedule stopped free practice for the fourth stage of the Formula 1

The fourth stage of the season 2019 Formula 1 – Grand Prix of Azerbaijan, began with the traditional free practice, held at first quite casually – almost all the pilots managed to ride the installation circle, but on the 13th minute of the session had to stop red flag – on the straight the car Williams racer George Russell after contact with the opened drain manhole (!) spread the bottom of the diffuser and the track was covered with debris that had to be removed, and the car to evacuate to the paddock.

Moreover, since during the evacuation of the car Russell's tow truck with a lift reserve advertising the bridge and the lift broke, so the victim monopost I had to reboot on a tow truck – just kind of a black stripe.

After a few minutes the representatives of the FIA announced that F1 session will not be continued, since it is necessary to check the fastening of all three hundred of hatches until the beginning of the qualifying "Junior" F2, to which was a little over an hour.
Representatives of the FIA and experts went to the scene of the incident to solve problems with the hatch and began to check and mount other hatches special bolts. The race direction has warned the team about the significant delay that was the first serious incident after the death of the legendary Charlie Whiting.
The promoters of the Grand Prix F1 of Azerbaijan will now have to compensate for the Williams team the cost of repairing her car – this practice has been applied, after a similar incident monoposte Haas F1 in Malaysia, however, when the compensation was paid only after a year.

Deputy head of the British team Williams Claire Williams quickly commented on Sky Sports accident his driver during the first free practice of Grand Prix of Azerbaijan F1: "Based on these data, it is obvious that the bottom of the car received severe damage. Who knows what else is damaged?
While you have to wait to see what happened there. We will provide additional information. You need to understand whether it is possible to repair the chassis or have to cook in third gear."
Claire Williams also reasonably pointed out that from the F1 circuit expect greater reliability: "it is Assumed that the drainage manholes shall be bolted. We will discuss the situation with the organizers."