The FIA has decided to cancel the first practice session of F1 Azerbaijan GP after Williams’ George Russell runs over a drain cover.
The FP1 session of F1 Azerbaijan GP has been cancelled by the FIA after Russell ran over a drain cover at Baku City Circuit which damaged the floor of the Williams’ FW42. Post the hit, the FIA team rushed into the spot between Turn 2 and Turn 3 to check the drain.
Replays showed Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc’s running over the drain cover which loosened itself and when Russell arrived at the same place, it popped up and hit the floor of the Williams as he stopped immediately, with the British racer looking at the floor section.
“I just hit it, the biggest shock went through my body,” said Russell to Sky Sports. “The whole engine just turned off, it’s ruined the floor. It was just on the normal racing line and has ruined my session. Not what we need at this stage but just one of those things.”
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It was not it for the car as while it was being towed away in a tow truck to the pitlane, the crane hit the underside of a bridge, which broke the crane with the oil then starting to spill on top of the Williams car, creating further drama.
With hefty work to be done to check on all the drain covers at the street circuit, the FIA Race Director Michael Masi decided to call off the session with Leclerc (1m47.497s) and teammate Sebastian Vettel (1m49.598s) only drivers to set a lap time.
By the time Russell ran over the drain cover, all the drivers had completed an installation lap apart from the Mercedes duo of Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas, with the Ferrari duo and Russell, the first ones to hit the track for longer runs.
It remains to be seen how much damage Williams has suffered as replays showed a hit on the tray of the floor. The team is still investigating the floor but Claire Williams hopes that it doesn’t do much damage to the chassis as it doesn’t have many spare parts in its pocket.
UPDATE: Following the initial checks, Williams took the decision to change the chassis which means Russell won’t run at all on Friday. It hasn’t been a great start for the British driver to his Azerbaijan GP weekend after he missed Thursday work due to post-China health issues.
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