Williams switch seatbelt manufacturer after issue
Valtteri Bottas has confirmed that Williams F1 have switched seat belt suppliers, having announced after the Singapore Grand Prix that they were rather worried about their drivers' safety. An investigation is still going on, and further measures are likely to be taken.
During the Singapore Grand Prix, Valtteri Bottas had to come in for an unscheduled pitstop after his seat belt had worked loose, causing a dangerous situation.
The 5-point belts as mandated in F1 provide rigid safety and a quick release for the driver in case he needs to get out of the car, but the confines of the cockpit prevents drivers from fastening the belts without external aid.
“We actually don’t know exactly what happened, what caused the problem.” Bottas said ahead of this weekend’s Malaysian GP.
“But we already took some actions to make sure it doesn’t happen again, like changing manufacturer or changing some other things before this weekend. We need to do some tests in the next few races to make all the changes we want to do.”
When asked for his recollection of the events, the Finn added: “Some bits of the belts they opened, not completely as they were still attached.
“I did less than one lap [with the problem], and it was OK. You obviously try not to crash but I didn’t slow down much.
“It’s not the first time this happens, it happened to me two years ago in Brazil, so we definitively need to make some changes and that’s what we’re going to do.”
