Williams explains wing footage breach after heavy fine in Shanghai

Having been fined €50,000 - €40,000 suspended due to a wing footage breach, Williams explained that the incident was a result of miscommunication and issues with internal processes.

Following a strong showing at the season-opening Australian Grand Prix, Williams took a tough start to the second race weekend of the season after the Grove-based outfit failed to properly install SD cards in onboard cameras. As a result, the FIA elected to impose a fine of €50,000 - €40,000 suspended.

Having investigated the incident, the governing body explained that the Grove outfit believed that the cameras came fitted with SD cards, however, this was a misunderstanding.

The official statement from the FIA explained: "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."

Explaining the issue from Friday's sole free practice session, Williams stressed that they did not need to make any tweaks to the rear wing design despite the more stringent load tests that the FIA has introduced for this weekend's Chinese Grand Prix.

"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," noted Williams.

"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."