The Williams Racing Formula One team has been penalized with a staggering €50,000 ($54,000) after it failed to submit footage of the front and rear wings on its FW-47 F1 car to the FIA stewards. €40,000 ($43,500) of the total fine has been suspended until 31 December 2025.
In a bid to monitor flexing of the wings following a revision of the technical regulations, cameras mounted on F1 cars capture the front and rear wings during track action. Williams had a deadline to hand over the footage of Friday’s track session in China, but failing to do so has led to the penalty.
The FIA stewards clarified that the non-submission of footage didn’t imply a flexing of the wings on the Williams FW47. The reason for the non-submission of the footage is due to the team’s alleged misunderstanding of an email, which led it to assume that the SD cards were added to the cameras, but in reality, they weren’t. Hence, Williams failed to record track action on Friday. Elaborating on the error in a statement, the stewards explained:
“TD034L [the Technical Directive] was issued on 19th March 2025. TD034L addressed the topic of bodywork flexibility in the context of Articles 3.2.2 and 3.15.1 of the Formula One Technical Regulations. 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’.
“It is undisputed by the team that it failed to do so. The reason for the failure was apparently the team’s belief that the cameras would come fitted with SD cards supplied by the FIA. They did not check if they did.
“They apparently relied on an email from the FIA Techincal 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. [sic]
“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.
“For avoidance of doubt, there was no suggestion that the wings were not in compliance with the bodywork flexibility requirements under the Technical Regulations.
“Nevertheless, given that TD034L was clear in placing the responsibility for ensuring that the cameras were fitted with the empty SD card on the team, it was equally clear that the team was not in compliance with the directions in TD034L.
“We therefore find that the team has infringed Article 12.1.1i of the ISC [International Sporting Code] 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 also released a statement. It read:
“We had concerns over the cameras not working in FP1, and as a result were in dialogue with the FIA throughout the session. 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.”
The penalty adds to the setback for Williams after Alex Albon finished P11 in the Chinese GP sprint race, followed by Carlos Sainz securing P17.
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